Chris Gayle tears apart Wiaan Mulder for not destroying Brian Lara's 400* record

West Indies National Cricket Team legend Chris Gayle has torn apart the South Africa National Cricket Team all-rounder Wiaan Mulder for not chasing batting great Brian Lara's record.

Chris Gayle believes that Wiaan Mulder missed out on a golden opportunity to score Test cricket's second individual 400 as he 'panicked and blundered' big time.

Wiaan Mulder refuses to chase Brian Lara's record

Mulder has become the most talked-about player in world cricket in the last few days for his shocking move against Zimbabwe in the second Test in Bulawayo.

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Stand-in skipper Mulder displayed his best-ever performance with the bat against the Chevrons and became just the second South African batter to score a triple ton in Test cricket after Hashim Amla.

He was batting like a dream during the match and headed to lunch on Day 2 with the score of 367*, and South Africa were at 626/5. He needed only a few more overs to complete a quadruple century, and everyone expected him to achieve the feat after the lunch break.

However, Wiaan Mulder shocked the cricket world by deciding to declare the innings and remained unbeaten at 367*. It became the fifth-highest individual score in Test cricket, behind Brian Lara's 400*, Matthew Hayden's 380, Lara's 375, and Mahela Jayawardene's 374.

Speaking after the match, Wiaan Mulder revealed that he didn't go for 400* out of respect for Brian Lara, as he felt "Lara keeping that record is exactly the way it should be".

If I could get the chance to get 400, I would get 400 - Chris Gayle

Mulder has been lauded by many for his move, but others have felt that the Proteas all-rounder made a 'stupid' move. Chris Gayle falls in the latter category, and he reckoned that Mulder should have taken a shot at hitting 400, but he panicked.

"If I could get the chance to get 400, I would get 400. That doesn't happen often. You don't know when you're going to get to a triple century again," Gayle said on talkSPORT's Hawksbee and Jacobs.

"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.

Records come with being a legend - Chris Woakes

Reacting to Wiaan Mulder's revelation on Proteas head coach Shukri Conrad, "Let the legends keep the big scores" advice, Chris Gayle said that the all-rounder would never become a legend himself if he didn't have big records in his name. Chris Gayle said:

"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!"

Chris Gayle also highlighted that scoring runs against a team like Zimbabwe is not a small thing and doubled down on his claim that Wiaan Mulder panicked and blundered. He stated:

"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."

Also Read: 'Phone call from Brian Lara made Wiaan Mulder declare innings': Twitter explodes as SA captain finishes with 367*