Test Match Betting: The magic of Murali

Bat and ball / Andrew Hughes / 19 July 2010 / Leave a Comment

Murali in familiar pose

"In the face of slurs and insults from certain sections of the media and unsavoury abuse from some crowds, particularly in Australia, he displayed great fortitude."

As one of the game's greats prepares to bowl his last ball in international cricket, Andrew Hughes looks back on the career of Muttiah Muralitharan and asks how this remarkable, occasionally controversial spinner will be remembered.

At the time of writing, Sri Lanka are well poised in the First Test against India, at 256-2 in their first innings, although with only three days left, the draw is overwhelming favourite at [1.09] But the real significance of this game is that it is the last played by the greatest off spinner the game has ever known. The stadium in Galle is festooned with messages of support and thanks from a grateful Sri Lankan public for the glorious entertainment that Muttiah Muralitharan has given in an international career that began in 1992 and has spanned 132 Tests and 337 one-day internationals.

It is little wonder that he is idolised in his home country. Murali was almost single-handedly responsible for making Sri Lanka a force in Test cricket. Prior to his debut, they had won only twice in thirty-eight Test matches, but they went on to win fifty-three out of the one hundred and thirty-two Tests that he played in, with Murali responsible for an astonishing forty per cent of the wickets taken by his side.

The statistical peaks that Murali scaled during the course of his long career are too numerous to detail fully here. Most Test wickets, most five-wicket hauls, most wickets at a single ground, most wickets taken bowled, caught and stumped; the list goes on and on. And it is hard to imagine those achievements being eclipsed, particularly as his nearest rivals for these records have already retired. With Twenty20 taking up more and more of the fixture list, it could be a long time before we see another Test bowler as prolific as Murali.

And beside the records, those of us who have watched him a lot over the years will not soon forget his distinctive bowling style, the contortions that his arm and wrist appear to go through, the almost impossible degree of spin he imparts on the ball and his startling, wide-eyed expression at the point of delivery. Technically an off-spinner, he operated like a leg-spinner, able to take wickets on any surface and unlike most spinners, he did not need to wait for a pitch to deteriorate to be effective, averaging 26 runs per wicket in the first innings and 22 per wicket in the second.

It is also true that few cricketers have divided opinion in the way that Murali has. There are some who still maintain that he throws the ball and who feel that all his achievements are worthless. But the fact is that before Murali, the rules on throwing had little scientific basis. The relaxing of the degree of bend permitted in the bowling arm did not come about in order to accommodate Murali as some allege, but because investigation of his technique led to the discovery that all bowlers bend their delivery arm to some extent and that judgements based on visual impressions were not reliable.

Perhaps his greatest legacy is not the wickets he took but the way he played the game. With Murali there was no sledging, no whining, no complaining and no visits to the match referee. In the face of slurs and insults from certain sections of the media and unsavoury abuse from some crowds, particularly in Australia, he displayed great fortitude. Throughout it all he has continued to smile and to take obvious delight in playing the game. The fact that no player has a bad word to say about Murali the man tells you all you need to know about a great cricketer and a gentle character.