Murali Attributes Training for Success
A day after reaching the un-chartered territory of 800 test wickets, the king of spin bowling Muttiah Muralitheran has attributed his phenomenal success to sheer persistence, determination and never say die attitude.
As tribute continue to pour in from around the world, even some of his greatest adversaries have agreed that despite the controversy surrounding his action the off-spinner will go down in the annals of the game as the greatest bowler of all time and not only due to the sheer weight of statistics but due to his inspiring attitude and the will to bounce back from extremely tough situations that hampered his career time and again.
During an 18 year international career, Murali was time and again accused of chucking, or throwing the ball due to his unique bowling action which gave an illusion that he was bending his elbow as he delivered the ball.
The spinner was generally accused by Australian umpires, and in two instances he was no-balled on tour of Australia by umpire Roy Emerson and Darell Hair.
The first instance in 1998-99 led to a walk-out by the Sri Lankans who were being led by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Western-Australia-c865 to determine if he chucked or not.
He was subsequently cleared and played the last six-seven years of his career with out any major controversy, albeit former Indian spinner http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bishan-Singh-Bedi-c48133 time and again called his action diabolical.
The 38-year-old who was already the leading wicket-taker in tests and one-day internationals dismissed Indian spinner Pragyan Ojha to become the first man to pass the 800 mark in what was the last test of a glittering career, the match was won comfortably by the hosts, Murali was cheered on by his family from the stands.
After the match the magician from Kandy said he had trained hard throughout his career and especially for his final match and said it was the finest moment of his cricketing life.
“I thank I have done it, that's enough, that's the only thing I was thinking because I've done it over and over and over, I've trained hard, so hard. Even last week I trained hard to play this match, to take it very seriously. And I was so happy because whatever has happened, God gave everything because not only one victory, eight wickets and everything he gave, so I think this is one of the greatest moments in my cricketing life because retiring like this, farewell".
Posters of the spinner decorated Galle, appearing on bridges, traffic islands and the city's ancient fort, yet Murali insisted his major worry was his team’s win in the match.
"With the posters and everything, unbelievable, they decorated all the ground, but still our motivation was there, to win, so I'm not emotional, I'm not a big emotional person, but I get upset sometimes and then I get over it and try to do things".
The off-spinner added that he was suffering from a persistent knee problem which made him realise he could probably not last three tests so informed the cricketing authorities that he would make the Galle test, the first of a three match series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750, his last.
"This is the opportunity I was waiting for, perform well, win the match and finish it nicely, so, three test matches, I thought my knee is not that great to bowl 50-60 overs so I thought, I told them my position of thinking."
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