How important was http://www.senore.com/Cricket/M-Muralitharan-c1864" href="http://www.senore.com/Cricket/M-Muralitharan-c1864">Muttiah Muralitharan for Sri Lanka?
It is an acknowledged reality that we, the rational animals, realise the value of a thing or a person when we are deprived of it. The same is happening with Team Sri Lanka which are missing, though covertly, every ball by their retired offspinner, Muttiah Muralitharan, as they have not been able to win a single Test game since his departure.
The spin king hanged his boots of 5-day format of the game after completing his world record 800 wickets on 22 July, 2010. In his last Test game, which was against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Lions-c808 glaring sun of successes doomed.
Making his international debut in 1992, the matchless bowler represented his national team in 133 Tests most of which he the Islanders won just because of the excellent bowling by him.
It is shocking for a cricket fan who takes a look on the team’s records from July 22 onwards. In the post-Murali era, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 in a sequence.
After a gap of at least five years, the Men in Green beat their Asian rival by 9 wickets on October 29 at Dubai Sports Club, thanks to the absence of Muralitharan whose caliber no other Lankan spinner is likely to touch in near future.
Sri Lanka have never been such a fragile and helpless in last two decades as they seem now. If you exclude http://www.senore.com/Cricket/SL-Malinga-c2540 who has also pulled out of Test cricket, leaving his team in lurch.
What they can do now is either to go to Murali and request him to impart at least to some of his bowling techniques to one of the young spinners or to incorporate the legend as a full-time bowling coach in their cricket set up. There seems to be no third option for their salvation.
However, none of the two options is on cards at the moment. They can do one more thing i.e., to watch Murali’s bowling actions in highlights of last twenty years and try to copy how the spin star used to turn the ball and earn the wickets. But all this seems to be somewhat silly and childish which http://www.senore.com/Cricket/TM-Dilshan-c2691, the skipper c*m spinner, may not like to do.
Setting aside all these choices, time is still in Sri Lanka’s hands as one and a half year without a Test victory does not matter a lot. They can still gain a purple patch. The key is merely diligence and vigilance that their young bowlers need to show in training camps, coaching academies and practice nets consistently for a few years.
But, by doing all above-said things, there is no guarantee that the Lions will get another Murali. Never. There is no clone of the rock-star spinner. It is sufficient to prove that how much Murali was important for his national cricket team.
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