Barely a few days into retirement and there is something in Test cricket that Sri Lankan off=spinner Muttiah Muraliatharan is already missing — bowling to Indian batting icon Sachin Tendulkar.
Muralitharan brought down the curtains on his glittering 18-year-old career after guiding Sri Lanka to a thumping 10-wicket triumph over India at Galle.
“I am going to miss the dressing room environment. The challenges of five-day cricket and first and foremost bowling to great players like Sachin Tendulkar. I will miss this,” the wily off-spinner told PTI-Bhasha in an interview from Colombo.
Muralitharan, however, neither regrets his decision nor does he think that it was a premature one.
“I don’t think that it was a premature decision. I was thinking about it since long and I thought it was the perfect time,” said the off-spinner.
Muralitharan retired from Test cricket after taking 800 wickets. He got the 800th wicket with his final ball in Test cricket.
The affable bowler said he was not confident of reaching the milestone.
“Many people, including my wife, suggested that I should play the whole series against India but I wanted to play only the Galle Test. Frankly speaking I was not at all confident of getting the eight wickets.
“I was not even thinking about that. Winning was more important for me and I was concentrating on that. Although I felt on the top of the world when I got Pragyan Ojha’s wicket,” he said
“All my teammates hugged me. Everyone was very happy.
That was an invaluable moment for me and I can never forget that.”
