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Former West Indies captain Chris Gayle has launched a scathing attack on South Africa’s Wiaan Mulder for forgoing the chance to break Brian Lara’s world record.
Last week, Proteas stand-in skipper Mulder played a monumental 367* runs knock against Zimbabwe. By doing this, he etched his name in South African history for recording the highest individual score in the longest form of the game.
However, Wiaan Mulder left the cricket fraternity amused when he decided to declare South Africa’s innings just when he was 33 runs shy of Gayle’s teammate Brian Lara, record of 400* runs.
The 27-year-old innings was peppered with 49 fours, just shy of John Edrich’s world record of 53 boundaries, along with four maximums.
At the end of the day’s play, Wiaan Mulder revealed the reason behind not going past the legendary batter’s record.
“We had enough to bowl at. Brian Lara is a legend. He scored 400 or 401 runs against England, and for someone to hold that record, it is special. I spoke to Shuks (Shukri Conrad) and spoke about letting the legends keep that record. Lara keeping that record is exactly the way it should be,” he said.
Now, Chris Gayle has shed light on Wiaan Mulder’s decision, noting that such opportunities come rarely.
“If I could get the chance to get 400, I would get 400,” Gayle said. “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.”
“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.
Chris Gayle called Mulder’s decision an error on his part, stating it was a once-in-a-blue-moon opportunity.
“I think it was an error from his side, not to try and go to get it,” Gayle said. “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 explained.
The left-handed explosive batter said Mulder crumbled under pressure and made a big mistake.
“Like I said, he panicked and he blundered, straight up,” he concluded.
For the unversed, Chris Gayle, popularly known as the T20 giant, has two triple centuries to his name in Test cricket. He recorded his best score, 333, against Sri Lanka in Galle back in 2010.
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