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New Delhi .The style of batting has completely changed in the era of T20 cricket. Power hitting, aggressive shots and fast run pace have now become the hallmark of modern cricket. Despite this, there is a 29 year old record in Test cricket, which no team has been able to break till date. Sri Lanka's score of 952 runs is still the highest score in an innings of any team in Test history.

This record was achieved against India in August 1997 at Colombo's R. Premadasa Stadium was built in. In that match, India batted first and scored 537 runs. Sachin Tendulkar scored 143 runs, Mohammad Azharuddin scored 126 runs and Navjot Singh Sidhu scored 111 runs. After this, Sri Lanka gave such a reply, which changed the picture of Test cricket records.

After Sri Lanka started batting, instead of wickets falling, runs kept getting added. The team batted 271 overs and declared the innings after scoring 952 runs at the loss of six wickets. During this, Sanath Jayasuriya played a huge inning of 340 runs. He faced 578 balls and hit 36 ​​fours and two sixes.

Jayasuriya got excellent support from Roshan Mahanama. Mahanama scored 225 runs on 561 balls. Both the batsmen made a partnership of 576 runs for the second wicket, which is still a world record for this wicket in Test cricket. This partnership laid the foundation for Sri Lanka's huge score and gave the match a special place in the record books.

Arvind de Silva also contributed 126 runs in Sri Lanka's innings. Later in 2006, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene made the record for the highest partnership in Test cricket by adding 624 runs for the third wicket against South Africa. Despite this, Sri Lanka's team score of 952 runs still remains the highest.

Interestingly, there has been a big change in cricket from 1997 to 2026. Due to T20 cricket, the speed of batsmen's runs has increased. Modern players have the ability to score fast and bat for a long time. Despite this, reaching 1000 runs in a test match is not possible only through aggressive batting.

A team will need a very flat pitch, favorable batting conditions for a long time and many big partnerships to reach 1000 runs. Apart from this, the opposition bowlers will have to be kept under constant pressure. The captain will also face a strategic challenge, as batting too late may reduce the time available to win the match.

In 2024, England declared the innings against Pakistan after losing seven wickets for 823 runs. This is one of the leading examples of a team coming close to the record of 952 in the modern era. However, even after this the limit of 1000 runs was not crossed.

Thus, T20 cricket may have made batting more aggressive, but the peak of 952 runs in Test cricket still stands. This record of Sri Lanka has completed 29 years and the figure of 1000 runs is still untouched in the record books of cricket. If any team reaches this limit in the years to come, it will go down as one of the most extraordinary batting achievements of Test cricket.