Wiaan Mulder’s decision to declare South Africa’s innings when he was batting on 367, just 33 runs short of matching Brian Lara’s world record for the highest-ever score of 400, has divided the cricket world like nothing else in recent times. Former West Indies captain, Chris Gayle, who knows a thing or two about scoring big triple centuries — he has one against Sri Lanka (333) and another against South Africa (317) — said Mulder “panicked” and “blundered” by not going for Lara’s 400 against Zimbabwe in the second Test.
Mulder, who went Hashim Amla’s 311* to register the highest score by a South African batter, rose to fifth in the all-time highest scorers list in a Test innings. His was the highest score by a batter away from home, bettering former Australia captain Mark Taylor’s 334* against Pakistan. Mulder got to his triple century off 297, which was the second-fastest in Test history behind Virender Sehwag’s all-time record off 278 balls against South Africa in Chennai.
Mulder had the golden opportunity of surpassing Lara’s 400* against England in 2004, but he chose not to, declaring that records should stay with legends like Lara. His reasoning for going after Lara’s record drew as much attention as his decision to declare the innings when on 367.
Reacting to Wiaan Mulder’s knock, Chris Gayle said he would have taken a shot at breaking Lara’s record as an opportunity to get 400 doesn’t come often in Test cricket. “If I could get the chance to get 400, I would get 400,” Gayle said on talkSPORT’s Hawksbee and Jacobs.
“That doesn’t happen often. You don’t know when you’re going to get to a triple century again. Any time you get a chance like that, you try and make the best out of it. But he was so generous and said he wanted the record to stay with Brian Lara. Maybe he panicked; he didn’t know what to do in that situation,’ Gayle said.
Moulder also revealed his chat with South Africa head coach Shukri Conrad, who told him, “Let the legends keep the big scores.” Gayle said you would never become a legend if you don’t want to be one.
“Come on, you’re on 367; automatically, you have to take a chance at the record. If you want to be a legend, how are you going to become a legend? Records come with being a legend.
“I think it was an error from his side, not to try and go to get it. We don’t know if he would go on and get it or not. But he declared on 367 and he said what he had to say. But listen, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get 400 runs in a Test match. Come on, youngster, you’ve blown it big time!”
Gayle said the opposition doesn’t matter in Test cricket. A record is a record and scoring against any team is difficult at the Test level.
“It’s the same cricket, Test cricket,” Gayle said. “Sometimes you can’t even get one run against a team like Zimbabwe if you want to put it that way. It doesn’t matter the opponent, if you get 100 against any team, that’s a Test century. If you get a double or triple, 400, that’s Test cricket. That’s the ultimate game.”
The Universe Boss once again stressed that Mulder panicked and blundered. “Like I said, he panicked and he blundered, straight up.”
