Critical review of Lankan Maestro: Muralitharan
Handicapped by controversies surrounding his unique actions and forged by abnormally strong wrist and iron resolve, Muralitharan did what no other player could do in cricket. He became the first player to reach 800 wickets in Test cricket. And this was just a small part of a career, which saw the Lankan maestro reaching unprecedented heights in cricket.
Muralitharan’s story provides an inspiring tale for every aspiring cricketer. 38-year-old, Murali took his 800th wicket with his final ball in his 133rd Test against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 in 1992. He was instrumental for Sri Lanka’s glorious victory in the 1996 World Cup victory in Lahore. Murali has much success in cricket but he believes that his figure of 16 for 220 at the Oval in 1998 is his career highlight.
Muralitharan was also plagued by many controversies, most of them surrounding his unconventional bowling action. He was no-balled seven times by Darrel Hair for throwing in the 1995 Melbourne Test. He was then no-balled repeatedly by Roy Emerson in ODIs after ten days of Hair’s episode. He was even taunted by the Australian crowd for chucking. Even all this could not affect Murali’s iron resolve as he fought back with the support of the Sri Lankan Board. Tests conducted by ICC revealed that Murali’s action created an optical illusion of throwing. Despite ups and downs in his career, Murali has led the Sri Lankan bowling attack for almost two decades.
Talking to reporters after he made history, he said, “I am very happy that God has given me everything - eight wickets, a victory, basically everything. This is one of the greatest moments in my life, retiring this way. I am not emotional in a way, frankly, I am happy that I have done it. I trained really hard. Even last week, I trained hard to play in this Test match and take it very seriously”.
Murali was regularly compared to Australian spin wizard Shane Warne. They were both contemporaries as well as rivals. Shane Warne was the first man to achieve 700 wickets in Test cricket. A convincing case can be argued for either man but both had their special place in the annals of cricket. Warne was a classicist and media extrovert where as Murali was romanticist as he brought novelty to cricket. Murali was also the first player to fully utilize the ‘Doosra’ in his bowling after this variant of spin bowling was introduced by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Saqlain-Mushtaq-c88743.
In a country split by sectarian as well as ethnic divisions, Murali has been an exemplary representative of the Tamil community. His contribution to Sri Lankan society is beautifully summarized by Sri Lankan captain Kumara Sangakkara when he said, “He has taken much form the game of cricket, but he has given back so much to our society. More than any other public figure in Sri Lanka, he stands apart”.
Commenting on his career, Lankan maestro said, “I have played for 18 years and I thought that there are three other good spinners in the side. They are 24-25 years old and I am 38. I thought it's better to give them a chance. I have nothing more to achieve and I thought this is the right time”. He further added, “I chose to finish my career at the end of the first Test because I know my knees are not going to last to bowl 50-60 overs. If I am there it will be four spinners and only two can play. I will be blocking the place of another young spinner”.
World of cricket will definitely miss the wizardry of Muralitharan. But, with abundance of young talent available to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758, we may see another Murali in coming years.
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