Cricket teams should go for records: Shashi Tharoor's take on David Warner

NEW DELHI: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Sunday took to microblogging site Twitter to express his views on how cricket teams should go for breaking records if they can.

He cited the example of Australia's batsman David Warner who was not able to break West Indies  Brian Lara's record of highest individual Test score of 400.

Warner had played an outstanding innings with and scored his highest individual Test score of 335 runs not out against Pakistan in the ongoing day-night Test at Adelaide and was on course to break Lara's individual score.

However, that could not materialise as Australia's skipper Tim Paine then decided to declare the innings.

On Sunday, Tharoor posted a series of tweets to give his take on the decision to declare by Tim Paine.

"This summer, @davidwarner31 made 95 runs in 10 innings in the Ashes series against England. Against Pak, he scored 150+ in the 1st Test last week & followed it up with 335 not out yesterday in the 2nd. An unnecessary premature declaration cost him a shot at the world record. Pity," Tharoor said in a tweet.

Part of the pleasure of cricket is its records. Figures &statistics continue to enthral the true aficionado. Cricket teams should go for records when they can. With the 1st Test in the bag & victory likely against a weak Pak side (which was soon reduced to 89 for 6), why declare? - Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) December 1, 2019

In another tweet, the Congress leader said, "Part of the pleasure of cricket is its records. Figures &statistics continue to enthral the true aficionado. Cricket teams should go for records when they can. With the 1st Test in the bag & victory likely against a weak Pak side (which was soon reduced to 89 for 6), why declare?".

David Warner was able to make just 95 runs in the Ashes in 2019, but ever since then, he has been almost unbeatable.

The left-handed batsman played a knock of 154 in the first Test and he followed it up with a score of 335 not out.

In the ongoing Test, Warner broke several records. He surpassed Mark Taylor and Don Bradman in the list of highest individual score in Tests by an Australian. He is now the only Australian to have scored two 250+ plus scores in Tests.

However, captain Paine' decision to declare the innings was not taken kindly by Twitterati and soon the social media was flooded with memes for denying David Warner a golden opportunity of breaking Brian Lara's world record.

Have a look at some of them;

Brian Lara : Oh God #DavidWarner is going to break my records

Tim Paine : pic.twitter.com/i5J9fTin13 - Mangesh Mehenge (@Mangesh_mv) November 30, 2019

Just when David Warner was getting closer to Lara's record...

Tim Paine:#AusvPak #AusvsPak pic.twitter.com/ysARXj4MUx - I Tweet Stuffs (@KhabriBiggstFan) November 30, 2019

Warner's, 335 not out, was also the highest individual Test score in 2019. The 33-year-old left-handed batsman surpassed Indian captain Virat Kohli, who had scored 254 not out with the help of 33 fours and two sixes last month.

Kohli had scored his highest individual Test score in the second Test of the three-match series against South Africa in Pune.

(With ANI inputs)