ZIM vs SA | He panicked and blundered, Gayle slams Wiaan Mulder’s decision to declare and avoid Lara’s record

‌‌Former West Indies batter Chris Gayle has slammed Wiaan Mulder’s decision to declare and avoid chasing Brian Lara’s historic record during the second Test against Zimbabwe. Though the South African all-rounder’s knock resulted in a big win and a 2-0 clean sweep of the Test series, the decision to declare remains a debated topic in the cricketing world.

Mulder was in a great position to break the record, already overtaking Hashim Amla to achieve the highest individual score for a South African in Test cricket. The 27-year-old all-rounder was just 34 runs away from breaking the record with two more sessions to go on day two, but decided to declare on an unbeaten score of 367 off 334 deliveries. Chris Gayle, who himself has two 300+ scores in the red-ball format, has also given his opinion on the decision by the Proteas stand-in skipper.

“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 on talkSPORT's Hawksbee and Jacobs podcast.

“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!" the universe boss added.

The other aspect that might have influenced Mulder's decision to avoid chasing the record was the significance of the opponent they were playing against, since the knock came against a struggling Zimbabwe side. Gayle shared his insights on this topic as well.

“It's the same cricket, Test cricket. 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. Like I said, he panicked and he blundered, straight up,” the two-time World Cup winner concluded.