Pretoria: South Africa all-rounder Wiaan Mulder has revealed he recently spoke with Brian Lara and the West Indies great indicated he would have preferred him to try and break his world record during the recent Test match against Zimbabwe.
Mulder had the chance to break Lara's record for the highest score in Test cricket when he moved to 367 not out at lunch on day two of the Bulawayo Test against Zimbabwe, but chose to declare his side's innings at 626/5 at the time and allow the record innings of 400 by the West Indies legend to remain untouched.
While the declaration paid immediate dividends as South Africa cruised to a comfortable victory inside three days, debate has since raged as to whether Mulder should have chased Lara's record given he was within just 33 runs at the time of the declaration.
Mulder, who was stand-in captain for the Test in the absence of first-choice skipper Temba Bavuma and back-up Keshav Maharaj, said at the time that he was happy to allow Lara's record to remain.
"You never know what is destined for me, but Brian Lara keeping that record (of the highest score in Tests) is exactly the way it should be," Mulder said after the Test finished earlier this week.
"He got 400 against England - for someone of that stature, to keep that record is pretty special. I think if I get the chance again, I will probably do the same thing."
While Mulder still believes he made the right decision to leave the record untouched, the South African suggested Lara saw it differently and thinks he should have pushed on and attempted to break his mark of 400.
"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."
