Legendary Sri Lankan spinner, Muttiah Muralitharan was one of the few wrist-spinners who bowled off-breaks. He has the ability to turn his doosra by yards. He was impossible to read for most of the batsmen in the world. He achieved unthinkable numbers like 67 five-fors and 22 10-fors in Tests.
For more than a decade, Murali remained Sri Lanka’s universal match-winner, taking wickets was like eating a breakfast for him as he scalped 800 in Tests, 534 in One-Day Internationals. The first world cup he played for his country was in 1996, Sri Lanka came back triumphant. In terms of matches played, he is the fastest to 350, 400, 450, 500, 550, 600, 650 and 700 wickets, and trivially so for 750 and 800. For him, the most common method of getting a batsman out in Test cricket till now was ‘bowled Muralitharan.
Murali helped a struggling cricketing nation, to the high peaks. The average of 22.72 and strike-rate of 55 speaks volumes of his wicket-taking ability.
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On 12 August 1993 Muralitharan made his ODI debut against India at the Khettarama Stadium and took one for 38 off ten overs. On 27 October 2000 in Sharjah, Murali captured seven for 30 against India, which was then the best bowling figures in ODI. IN 202, Muralitharan achieved a career peak ODI Bowling Rating of 91.
Muralitharan played in five Cricket World Cup tournaments, in 1996, 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2011. He captured 67 World Cup scalps and is second in the list behind Glenn McGrath who has 71. He has the highest number of career wickets in ODIs with a tally of 534 wickets, having overtaken Wasim Akram (502).
In February 2008, Muralitharan was bought for $600,000 by the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the inaugural season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). He captured 11 wickets in 15 games that season, at an economy rate of 6.96 an over. In 2010, in the third season of IPL, Murali was part of the Chennai Super Kings side that won the IPL trophy. He also remained the side’s leading wicket-taker after all the three tournaments.
At the 2011 IPL Player Auction Muralitharan was bought by Kochi Tuskers Kerala for $1.1 million USD. In the 2012 season, Murali moved to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) where he took 14 wickets in 9 matches and had an average economy rate of 6.38. He played for RCB from 2012–2014 and he later decided to retire from IPL in 2014.
In 2015 Indian Premier League Muralitharan was appointed as Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) Bowling coach and Mentor of the team.
