Muralitharan Takes His 800th Test Wicket

Spin wizard aces scalps record in ODIs too

When cricketers stir up controversy, they’re usually team captains – think Douglas Jardine and the infamous ‘bodyline series’ or ‘Captain Cool’ Arjuna Ranatunga – or belong to the bowling department – Ian Botham, Shane Warne, Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thompson or the Windies’ pace demons.

But in all probability, no bowler has polarised opinion as much as Muttiah Muralitharan.

To true believers, he’s up there among the greatest players ever to spin a cricket ball. But to cynics and sceptics, Murali’s nothing much more than a quirk at best or charlatan at worst, and thoroughly undeserving of the clutch of records to his name in the gentlemen’s game.

Like him or loathe him however, there’s no remaining blasé about the slim wisp of a lad who made his Test debut against Australia in 1992 at the age of 20 – and kept bowling his magic spells (often, marathon sessions when his captains kept calling on their spin wizard to trick his opponents with his utter sorcery!) for 18 seasons on the trot.

It was a year later, when England toured Sri Lanka in 1993, and their bats found Murali’s spin hard to read – nay, mighty impossible almost – that doubt about the legitimacy of his action first raised its head.

To the untrained eye, Muralitharan threw the ball – not bowled it – with a bent arm that straightened at the point of delivery using a flexible wrist… and this was ultra vires the laws of cricket.

And it took an exhaustive investigation by the International Cricket Council (ICC) before the man under the microscope was cleared of any illegality in his action – i.e. by dint of a natural deformity of his arm.

This was not before Murali had been called for chucking many times, mostly by Australian umpires – once, seven times in a single day! But after the ICC amended the rules, Muralitharan was free to ‘do the doosra’ in his inimitable world-beating style.

On 22 July, which was the day he retired, the Sri Lankan lad scalped his 800th Test wicket – in fact, with his final delivery! – and ascended into cricket’s hall of fame with the twin records of most number of victims in both forms of the game.

The legendary Murali took 534 One-Day International (ODI) wickets, and had also been the ICC’s number one Test bowler for a record 1,711 days spanning 214 matches.

Like him or loathe him however, there’s no remaining blasé about the slim wisp of a lad who made his Test debut against Australia in 1992 at the age of 20 – and kept bowling his magic spells