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Muttiah Muralitharan

MuralitharanBust2004IMG
MuralitharanBust2004IMG Image: Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 3.0

Deshabandu Muttiah Muralitharan (born 17 April 1972) is a Sri Lankan former professional cricketer, cricket coach and businessman. A right-arm off-spin bowler, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of cricket, having taken more wickets in international cricket than any other bowler. He is the only bowler to have taken 800 Test wickets and more than 530 One Day International (ODI) wickets.

Key facts

Full name Deshabandu Muttiah Muralitharan
Born 17 April 1972
Nationality Sri Lankan
Role Bowler (off-spin)
Test wickets 800
ODI wickets More than 530
Test debut era Active until 2010 (Test retirement)
Major team honour 1996 Cricket World Cup winner; 2002 ICC Champions Trophy joint-winner
ICC Hall of Fame Inducted 2017 (first Sri Lankan)

Career overview

Muralitharan averaged over six wickets per Test match across his career. He was a member of the Sri Lankan side that won the 1996 Cricket World Cup and the team that shared the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy with India.

He held the number one position in the International Cricket Council's player rankings for Test bowlers for a record 1,711 days, a span covering 214 Test matches.

Bowling action controversy

Muralitharan's international career was marked by controversy regarding his bowling action. Owing to an unusual hyperextension of his congenitally bent arm during delivery, his action was questioned on several occasions by umpires and sections of the cricket community. Following biomechanical analysis under simulated playing conditions, his action was cleared by the ICC, first in 1996 and again in 1999.

Records

Muralitharan first surpassed Courtney Walsh's tally of 519 Test wickets in 2004 to become the leading wicket-taker in Test cricket. After a shoulder injury later that year, he was overtaken by Shane Warne. He reclaimed the record on 3 December 2007 when he again surpassed Warne to become the highest wicket-taker in Test cricket.

On 5 February 2009, in Colombo, Muralitharan dismissed Gautam Gambhir to surpass Wasim Akram's ODI record of 502 wickets.

He retired from Test cricket in 2010, taking his 800th and final Test wicket on 22 July 2010 from the final ball of his last Test match.

Recognition

  • Rated the greatest Test match bowler by Wisden's Cricketers' Almanack in 2002.
  • Inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in 2017, becoming the first Sri Lankan cricketer to receive the honour.
  • Won the Ada Derana Sri Lankan of the Year award in 2017.
  • Conferred the Sri Lankan national honour Deshabandu.

Significance

Muralitharan's longevity, wicket-taking ability and dominance across formats reshaped the role of spin bowling in modern cricket. His combined haul in Tests and ODIs places him at the head of all-time international bowling charts, while his sustained presence at the top of the ICC Test bowler rankings underlines the consistency of his performances over more than a decade.

References