The genial off-spinner from Sri Lanka has finally decided to call it quits in the Test arena. Muttiah Muralitharan will play his last test game at Galle and against India. With just 8 wickets short of 800 in world test cricket, Murali will go into his last game. Muralitharan has always been on top of his form giving his 100 per cent in whatever he does. He has remained a nightmare to the world's finest batsmen mixing up his deliveries and doing it intelligently. And for a matter of fact, this champion player from Kandy is currently the highest wicket taker in both tests and One-dayers. It for sure, tells you about his commitment, dominance and longevity in world cricket.
Though Murali hails from a family which runs a business making biscuits, cricket always took the priority. Way back in school, little Murali was a medium pacer and then on his coach's advice the fourteen year young lad took up off-spin. Impressed playing school cricket, he went on to bag “Bata Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year” in 1990-91. While his college cricket was brilliant, his club record was exceptional - 234 wickets at 14.51 runs in 46 matches. And from there everybody thought this young lad will make it big, but he has made it huge in SriLankan Cricket. Remarkable success and humungous fan following to this man who is rated as the greatest test match bowler.
When it comes to breaking world records, he is the man who has done it all after the genius batsman of the game, Sachin Tendulkar. Averaging over six wickets per Test, Muralitharan is one of the most successful bowlers of the game. Murali now holds the record for most One Day and Test dismissals. Muralitharan was selected as the Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World in 2000 and in 2006.
Though Murali has been spectacular, there was a time when he was tested and tampered with.
Praises and criticisms
He went through a bad patch when he was accused of having an “illegal bowling action” that contravened the laws of the game. The stand-in umpire called a “no-ball” seven times for an illegal action during the Boxing Day test match in Melbourne. Later again in the triangular World Series competition, he was given a no-ball more then a couple of times by Ross Emerson again for an illegal bowling action. But the best part was, he was signaled a no-ball for his leg-breaks than his normal off-breaks. Murali was forced to undergo biomechanical analysis in Hong-Kong, but then came the good news that his action created an “optical illusion of throwing”. But doubts have persisted regarding his action. in the minds of the on-field umpires in the 1998-99 tour of Australia and the SriLankan side got frustrated and almost abandoned the game after their lead spinner was reportedly challenged with no-ball calls.
But Murali has always been awe-inspiring with great determination and confidence in his action and especially in himself. He never lent his ear to the controversies and the way the Australian crowd mocked him when he came out to play. Muralidharan has always been a source of inspiration for the young spinners for his plenty of variations under his armoury.
Much has been said about this very legend or the wizard of spin bowling. So many wickets under his belt, umpteen matches played, plentiful missions clinched, so much has been proved and accomplished and he is ever economical, but still the passion for the game never ever dies or fades out. He still plays the game as he is playing it for the first time. Murali has proved it to each and every one of us that he is capable of daunting any batsman in the world. But let's see if this legendary Spin doctor can pull off eight wickets given the two innings and land on the magical mark of 800 before he bids adieu to the longer version of the game. It's now an interesting contest on the charts. Let's see if Dhoni's men are capable enough to guard their stumps denying Murali his 800 or will Murali, putting in all his tactics and efforts into play dominate the Indian batsmen. It's a question only time can answer!
Fact File
Murali became the highest wicket-taker in Test cricket when he overtook Shane Warne on December 3, 2007.
He took the wicket of Gautam Gambhir on 5 February, 2009 in Colombo, to surpass Wasim Akram's ODI record of 502 wickets.
Muralitharan also overtook Courtney Walsh's record of 519 wickets.
His 700 came when he bowled Syed Rasel of Bangladesh and his 750 when he grabbed the wicket of Sourav Ganguly of India.
Muralitharan has taken five or more wickets in an innings on 66 occasions in test cricket, which is again a world record.
Muralitharan also has the unique distinction of getting 10 or more wickets in a match against all other 9 Test playing nations as well as capturing over 50 wickets against each of them.
Praveen Iyer is a Final Year student of , Information Technology Rajalakshmi Engineering College.
