South Africa won the second Test by an innings and 236 runs.
After South African skipper Wiaan Mulder declared the innings while he was unbeaten on 367, the cricketing world went into a spin. The incident occurred during the second Test match between South Africa and Zimbabwe. There were a lot of narratives about Mulder not being the right fit at No.3. But the 27-year-old put all the doubts to rest with his record-breaking knock of 367*. However, fans and broadcasters would have loved the Proteas’ skipper to go past Brian Lara’s record. Lara achieved the record in 2004, playing against England. Mulder had the chance to rewrite history after 21 long years, and he chose to let it go. A few days ago, Chris Gayle expressed his opinion on the matter. He said that the South African skipper missed the opportunity of his life because such moments don’t come more often.
AMR
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TBW
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Match Called off
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LUF
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Now that the dust had settled, Mulder got a chance to speak to the man himself. The West Indian legend encouraged the former, saying that he should have gone for the record. Moreover, he also added that records are meant to be broken. If an opportunity presented itself again, Mulder shouldn’t shy away from going for the record. Post the conversation, the triple centurion stressed that it was an interesting point from the West Indian legend. But he still believes that he did the right thing. He ended by saying that respecting the game means everything to him and will always be his topmost priority.
“Now that things have settled a little bit, I’ve chatted a little bit to Brian Lara. He said to me I’m creating my legacy, and I should have gone for it. He said records are there to be broken, and he wishes that if I’m ever in that position again, I 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”, said the South African skipper.
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Despite not going past the 400-run mark, we must not forget that Mulder scored 367*, a score that is not easily attainable in Tests for any batter. In the process of getting there, the South African skipper sent multiple records tumbling; some of them that he will be proud of. Let us now look at some of the numbers that will forever be etched in Wiaan Mulder’s glory and will go down in the history books as the most iconic ones.
Wiaan Mulder became just the second South African to score a triple century in Test cricket. Hashim Amla held that record before him, scoring an unbeaten 311 against England at the Oval in 2012.
Mulder’s 374 was also the first triple hundred on Zimbabwean soil. Moreover, it was the second-highest Test score by any batter against Zimbabwe, behind Matthew Hayden’s 380 at the WACA in 2003.
His 367* is also the highest first-class score in the country.
The Protea skipper took just 297 deliveries to get to his triple hundred. This was the second-fastest in Test cricket. Virender Sehwag tops the list for his triple hundred in Chennai, which took just 258 deliveries.
Mulder went on to pile up 53 boundaries in his monstrous inning, which was the second most after John Edrich, who hit 57 boundaries in 1965.
His 264* on the first day of the Test was the second-highest score for any batter on the opening day of a Test, just behind the great Don Bradman.
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