Cricket Player Profile: http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758’s record breaking offbreak spinner, Muttiah Muralitharan
Muttiah Muralitharan, an undoubted King of offbreak spin bowling, played his last test match at Galle, Sri-Lanka. Sri Lanka won this match by 10 wickets on farewell test to the legend of spin bowling. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Muttiah-Muralitharan-c78157 took much needed wicket of Pragyan Ojha to complete his 800 wicket haul in test cricket. He started this test match with an aim to take another 8 wickets to complete 800 wickets in test cricket. He has taken most wickets in test matches and ODIs (One Day International) in the format he decided to play till 2011 world cup, where his country is one of the host nations.
Muttiah Muralitharan was born on 17th April, 1972 in the central city of Kandy. Murali’s grandfather was a south Indian and he came to work in tea plantation plant in Sri-Lanka in 1920, he later returned to India but his father decided to stay back. He started playing his cricket in Kandy, where he works in nets for long hours to master his spin. During his high school, he was a medium pacer but on advice of his school coach, he changed his bowling style and became an offbreak spinner.
Murali after leaving school joined Tamil Union Cricket and Athletic Club and later was selected in Sri-Lankan A team for tour of England in 1991. This tour was a total failure for him as he played 5 matches and remained wicket less. In August 1992, Australian team came on a tour of Sri-Lanka, where Murali impressed everyone during the practice match; he was later selected in the Sri-Lankan playing eleven in the second match of the series.
He managed to get his first wicket in the Australian 1st inning where McDermott was declared LBW (Leg Before Wicket) on his ball; he later took 2 wickets during the second innings. He represented his home side in 1992-93, back to back test wins against England and New Zealand. After this success, he became the regular member of the team and most reliable bowler for his captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757, where he took wickets of players like Hansie Cronje and Keepler Wessels. He was the sole performer during the test match series against India, where Sri Lanka was defeated by innings in all test matches; he took 12 wickets for his side. After these initial matches, he was unstoppable and kept taking wickets for his side.
Muttiah Muralitharan became the first Sri Lankan bowler to reach the 100 wickets mark in test cricket during 1997. In 1998, he achieved 10 wickets haul in a match against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Zimbabwe-c3045; he took 12 wickets for 117 run. Muralitharan took the 200th wicket during 1998 tour of England and he soon reached the 300 wickets mark in 2000. He had only played 58 tests by then, 2 more than Dennis Lillee, who reached 300 mark in 56 test matches. He was able to take the 500th victim of his bowling in his 87th test match.
He was able to beat Courtney Walsh record of 519 wickets by dismissing Mluleki Nkala, He later became the highest test wicket taker bowler by beating Shane Warne’s record of 708 wickets, when he dismissed Collingwood. He achieved this record in 116 test matches that is 29 less than Shane Warne’s effort in test cricket. He achieved this record with an average of 21.77, that is much less than Australian’s 25.41. He achieved 800 wickets haul by dismissing Pragyan Ojha, as the last wicket of Indian side in his farewell test.
Muttiah Muralitharan took 800 wickets in test cricket with an average of 22.71. His best bowling figure are 16/220 in a test match with 9/51 in an innings, courtesy of Russel Arnold dropped catch at short leg, otherwise it would have been 10 wickets in an innings. He will continue to play ODIs and T20 and only has taken retirement from the longer version of the game.
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