The number 800 gained its own significance on July 22, 2010!! Just for a moment, keep aside all the debates around the legality of Muthiah Muralidharan’s bowling and salute the person for the legacy he is leaving behind. This statistic could be appreciated better when we look at the fact that the next best contemporary spinner does not even have half of what Murali has got. Let’s leave the statistic here and talk a bit more about the cricketer.
For an avid cricket follower, especially from the sub-continent it is very easy to understand the fan following Murali will have in his home country. It is definitely right up there with what Sachin Tendulkar has in India. The expectations that he carried on in his shoulders were enormous. If one adds the constant scrutiny he was under for his bowling action, only a person with abundance of guts could have carried himself thus far. In spite of it, the Murali image that anyone will have is surely that of his expressive eyes when he delivers the ball and the cheerful attitude he displayed with a bat in his hand.
No talk about Murali could be complete without talking about the other two great spinners who were competing with him throughout. One of the reasons why Murali could get so many wickets was the lack of bite in the rest of the Srilankan attack. But imagine the pressure, if you are expected to take 5 wickets in an innings every time you bowl. Shane Warne hardly had to bowl with the pressure of taking wickets all by himself and Kumble at most times at least had one other good bowler to complement his efforts. To put it in short, Murali was to Srilankan bowling (for most of his career) what Brian Lara was to WI batting.
After Srilanka won the World Cup in 1996, there was a desperate need in their cricket to sustain the momentum and move the team forward to the next level. Ranatunga and DeSilva were at the end of their careers and it was around Jayasuriya and Murali that Srilanka built their team. Jayasuriya re-invented himself in the Test arena and Murali was always there to ensure that the job done by batsmen did not go waste. Murali is not yet done with the ODIs, hoping to give one final shot at the World cup next year. Let’s wish him the very best and wait with anticipation if he can end his ODI career in a similar way as his Test career.
-Raghavan
