Social media were left stunned when South Africa's stand-in-captain Wiaan Mulder declared the innings when he was unbeaten on 367 runs on Day 2 of the second Test against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo. The right-hand batter had a golden opportunity to go past legendary cricketer Brain Lara's all-time highest Test record of 400 and etch his name in history books. However, the all-rounder decided not to and told in a post-match conference that he declared the innings out of respect for the Caribbean icon.
Mulder, who was with SRH in this year's IPL 2025 season, where once Lara was the mentor for the franchise, said a player of Lara's stature deserved to keep the world record of highest individual score in Test cricket. The all-rounder also further went on to say that if in the future also he gets an opportunity for Mount 400, he will still do exactly the same as he did against Zimbabwe.
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“Firstly, I thought we had enough, and we needed to bowl. Secondly, Brian Lara is a legend. For someone of that stature to keep that record is deserved. If I get the chance to do it again, I’d do it exactly the same way. I spoke to Shuks (Shukri Conrad), and he felt the same way. Brian Lara is a legend, and he deserves to keep that record,” said Mulder after the end of the day’s play.
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Wiaan Mulder on battling negative thoughts when he went past Hashim Amla's 312
For the unversed, Mulder broke a lot of records en route to his mammoth score of 367. He first went past Graeme Smith's 277 runs scored as the captain, and then he later went past Hashim Amla's highest individual score of 311 runs. However, rather than enjoying those moments, the Proteas stand-in-captain admitted he had a lot of negative thoughts running through his mind after he was dismissed on a no-ball on Day 2 of the Test.
“There were a lot of thoughts that I had. There were so many negative thoughts after I got bowled off the no-ball last night. There were a lot of positives as well, I wanted to just stay positive. Just keep the focus on my shoes and keep singing songs in my head. Today at breakfast, somebody mentioned that 277 is the highest score by a debutant captain, so that was the first hurdle. I got past Hash’s (Amla) score and only then realized that I had got to 312,” he added.
Courtesy of Mulder's epic knock, South Africa posted 626/5 and in reply, dismissed Zimbabwe for just 170 in the first innings. The visitors later, enforced follow on and also got one wicket by the end of Day two's play.
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