Lara told me to break the record, says Mulder

Wiaan Mulder, who declared on 367 in a Test, said Brian Lara later told him he should have gone for the record 400. Mulder believes respecting the game was more important.

Hyderabad: South African all-rounder Wiaan Mulder, who stunned the cricketing world by declaring the innings when he was on 367 not out and in with a chance to break West Indian great Brian Lara’s record of 400 (the highest individual score in Test cricket, set in Antigua in 2004), said that Lara told him he should have attempted to break the record during the second Test against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo.

Mulder, South Africa’s stand-in captain for the match, was batting on 367 at lunch on the second day when he declared the innings.

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“Brian Lara keeping that record is exactly the way it should be,” Mulder said after declaring the innings.

“Now that things have settled a little bit, I’ve chatted a little bit to Brian Lara,” Mulder told SuperSport.

“He said to me I’m creating my own legacy and I should have gone for it. He said records are there to be broken and he wishes if I’m ever in that position again, I actually go and score more than what he had.

“That was an interesting point of view from his side, but I still believe I did the right thing and respecting the game is the most important part for me,” Mulder said.

He said that South Africa’s head coach Shukri Conrad had told him, “Listen, let the legends keep the really big scores.”

South Africa went on to win the Test inside three days, by an innings and 236 runs.

Earlier this week, Chris Gayle told talkSport that Mulder “maybe panicked” and made an “error” by not chasing the “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

“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. If you want to be a legend … how are you going to become a legend? Records come with being a legend,” the flamboyant former West Indies opener said.