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
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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.
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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.”