Muralitharan Muttiah To Retire, Harbhajan To Take Over
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Wasim-Akram-c96292 and Shane Warne. He hinted he would retire after the 2011 Cricket World Cup. He told reporters, “I think I am fit in my body and mind, I am enjoying my cricket and want to play more. But after the next World Cup, I will have nothing left to achieve in the game. The World Cup should mark the end of my career.”
Muttiah made his debut in 1992 for Sri Lanka at the Tamil Union Cricket and Athletic Club and Central Province. He made a staggering 234 runs in only 46 matches. He played county cricket in England, for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Rajasthan-c837 Royals in the 2007-2008 season.
Muttiah will go down in history as the first ever wrist-spinning off spinner. His attacking style of bowling had him mistaken as a leg-spinner, but after much deliberation it was decided that his deliveries were one of a kind. Because of his flexible wrist, he can bowl in different variations and is lethal on any surface. He has a record of 750 Test wickets and some 500 One Day International wickets, since his debut in 1992, making him the first player to take more than 1,000 wickets in both formats of the game. Some of his other achievements include being the only player to take 10 Test wickets in four consecutive matches, being the only player to take 50 or more wickets against all the Test playing nations, in addition to these acheivements, he has also been awarded the most Man of the Match awards in Test cricket.
But now Muttiah is close to retirement, and he believes there is only one other player who can match his record of almost 800 Test wickets, and that is Harbhajan Singh. “I think only Harbhajan can do this. I don't know how old he is or how long he will continue tp play professionally for. But he is the only one who can achieve this feat in Test Cricket,” The 30 year old Indian specialist bowler has over 355 wickets from the 83 Test matches he’s played so far. Muttiah believes that the recent popularity of Twenty20 cricket may be the reason why other bowlers may not be able to reach the number of wickets he has managed in his career. “In current scenario Test Cricket is dying. One day Cricket does not have a bright future. Only Twenty20 is going to survive. So it will be difficult for a slow bowler to survive for very long,” he said.
Muttiah believes he has achieved everything a cricketer could hope to achieve in his career and is ready to retire soon. In addition to his impressive bowling, he was part of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 next year. Though his appearance for country is still not confirmed, he has made his wishes to play for the Chennai Super Kings clear, saying he’ll play as long as he can.
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