Muttiah Muralitharan was born April 17, 1972 in Kandy, often referred to as Murali, was rated as the greatest bowler ever by Wisden Cricketers' Almanack in 2002.

He is Test cricket's highest wicket-taker, having overtaken the previous record-holder Shane Warne when he bowled Paul Collingwood for his 709th Test wicket, in Kandy, his home town, on December 3, 2007. He is also second in the list of One Day International wicket-takers.

Muralitharan's career has not been without controversy, with the legality of his bowling action being called into question; however, his action has been cleared by the International Cricket Council in official technical studies.

Since his debut in 1992, Muralitharan has taken over 700 Test wickets and over 450 One Day International wickets, becoming the first player to take 1,000 wickets combined in the two main forms of international cricket.

He currently holds the highest wickets/match ratio (6.1) for any bowler with over 200 Test wickets. As of the 30th of November 2007, he has represented Sri Lanka in 115 tests of the 172 that they have played (66.9%).

Muralitharan's unique bowling action begins with a short run-up, and culminates with an extremely wristy release which had him mistaken for a leg-spinner early in his career by Allan Border.

Aside from his off break, his main deliveries are a fast top spinner which goes straight on, and the doosra, a surprise delivery which turns from leg to off (the opposite direction of his stock delivery) with no easily discernible change of action.

In May 2004, he overtook West Indian Courtney Walsh's record of 519 Test match wickets to become the highest wicket-taker, a record he kept until Shane Warne claimed it in late 2004 and now he has reclaimed it back.

Warne believes that Muralitharan will take "1,000 wickets" before he retires. Former record holder Courtney Walsh has also opined that this is possible if Muralitharan retains his hunger for wickets. Muralitharan himself believes there is a possibility that he will reach this milestone.

In 2002, Wisden carried out a statistical analysis of all Test matches in an effort to rate the greatest cricketers in history, and Muralitharan was ranked as the best bowler of all time.

However, two years earlier, Muralitharan was not named as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Century. Former Australian captain Steve Waugh called him "the Don Bradman of bowling". Muralitharan was selected as the Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World in 2006 .

In July 2007, Muralitharan achieved a career peak Test Bowling Rating of 920, based on the LG ICC Player Rankings. This is the highest ever rating achieved by a spin bowler in test cricket. This also puts him in 4th place in the LG ICC Best-Ever Test bowling ratings.

On November 15, 2007, the Warne-Muralitharan Trophy was unveiled named after the two leading wicket-takers in Test cricket, Shane Warne and Muralitharan. This trophy will be contested between Australia and Sri Lanka in all future Test series.

In domestic cricket, Muralitharan has played for two first-class Sri Lankan sides, Tamil Union Cricket and Athletic Club in the Premier Trophy and Central Province in the Provincial Championship. His record has been exceptional - 234 wickets at 14.51 runs in 46 matches.

He has also played county cricket in England, mainly for Lancashire (from 1999 until 2007) where he appeared in twenty eight first-class games for the club. He played five first class games for Kent during the 2003 season. His bowling record in English domestic cricket is also exceptional - 236 wickets at 15.62 runs in 33 matches.

Despite his efforts, he has not been on a title winning first-class domestic team in either the Premier Trophy or the County Championship. He is unusual amongst the majority of current test players in having played in more test matches than other first-class games (116 tests and 99 other first class matches as of 30 November 2007).

Initial concerns as to whether Murlitharan's action contravened the laws of the game by straightening his right arm further than is allowed while bowling broke into open controversy after Australian umpire Darrell Hair called a "no ball" for an illegal action seven times during the Boxing Day Test match in Melbourne, Australia, in 1995.

Australian Sir Donald Bradman, universally regarded as the greatest batsman in history, was quoted as saying it was the "worst example of umpiring that [he had] witnessed, and against everything the game stands for. Clearly Murali does not throw the ball".

Muralitharan was later no-balled for throwing by Australian umpires Ross Emerson and Tony McQuillan in a One Day International against the West Indies, in Brisbane, Australia, during the same summer.

Following the end of the season, Muralitharan underwent biomechanical tests in Hong Kong and Australia under the supervision of bowling experts, who declared his action legal, citing a congenital defect in Muralitharan's arm which makes him incapable of straightening it any further, but giving the appearance of the arm straightening.

The overwhelming response was that Murali's doosra contravened the established ICC elbow extension limit of 5§ for spinners. It can be and has been argued that laboratory conditions do not replicate the action used by tested bowlers in match conditions.

A lower order batsman who usually bats at No. 11, Muralitharan is known for his tendency to back away to leg and slog. His highest Test score of 67 came against India at Kandy in 2001, including three sixes and five fours.

He has made valuable scores on occasion, including 30 runs against England at the Oval in 1998, including 5 fours, 38 runs (4 fours, 1 six) against England at Galle in 2003, 43 runs (5 fours, 3 sixes) against Australia at Kandy in 2004 and 36 runs against the West Indies at Colombo in 2005.

Muralitharan was run out in controversial circumstances by New Zealand wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum at Christchurch in 2006. After his batting partner Kumar Sangakkara reached his century, Muralitharan grounded his bat and went to congratulate Sangakkara.

However the ball was not yet dead, allowing McCullum to complete the run out. New Zealand Stephen Fleming defended the run out, although the Sri Lankan team and many others did not consider the dismissal to be in the spirit of the game.

Muralitharan married Madhimalar Ramamurthy, an Indian national, in 2005. His first child, Naren, was born in January 2006.

Muralitharan became politically active in 2004, becoming an ambassador for the United Nations World Food Program, and joining an anti-poverty campaign. He said he is "lucky to be alive" after narrowly missing the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake by just 20 minutes. One week later, he was reported to be helping distribute food to victims of the tsunami.

World records and achievements

Muttiah Muralitharan holds a number of world records, and several firsts:

The most Test wickets (713 wickets as of 5 December 2007).

The highest number of international wickets in Tests and ODIs combined (1168 wickets as of 5 December 2007).

The most 5-wicket hauls in an innings at Test level

The most 10-wicket hauls in a match at Test level (20). He is the only player to take 10 wickets/match against every Test playing nation.

Fastest to 350, 400, 450, 500, 550, 600, 650 and 700 Test wickets, in terms of matches played.

Only player to take 10 wickets in a Test in four consecutive matches. Murali has achieved this feat twice.

Only player to take 50 or more wickets against every Test playing nation.

Muralitharan and Jim Laker (England), are the only bowlers to have taken 9 wickets in a Test innings twice.

7 wickets in an innings against the most countries (5).

Most Test wickets taken bowled (156), stumped (37) and caught & bowled (30). Bowled by Muralitharan (b Muralitharan) is the most common dismissal in Test cricket (excluding run out).

Most successful bowler/fielder (non-wicket keeper) combination - c Mahela Jayawardene b Muttiah Muralitharan (62).

Most Man of the Series awards in Test cricket (11).

Test wicket milestones

1st: Craig McDermott lbw 9 vs Australia

50th: Navjot Sidhu caught Ruwan Kalpage 43 vs India

100th: Stephen Fleming bowled 59 vs New Zealand

150th: Guy Whittall caught (Mahela Jayawardene) 17 vs Zimbabwe

200th: Ben Hollioake lbw 0 vs England

250th: Naved Ashraf lbw 27 vs Pakistan

300th: Shaun Pollock caught Tillakaratne Dilshan 11 vs South Africa

350th: Mohammad Sharif caught and bowled 19 vs Bangladesh

400th: Henry Olonga bowled 0 vs Zimbabwe

450th: Daryl Tuffey caught Sanath Jayasuriya 1 vs New Zealand

500th: Michael Kasprowicz bowled 0 vs Australia

550th: Khaled Mashud caught Thilan Samaraweera 2 vs Bangladesh

600th: Khaled Mashud caught Lasith Malinga 6 vs Bangladesh

650th: Makhaya Ntini caught Farveez Maharoof 13 vs South Africa

700th: Syed Rasel caught Farveez Maharoof 4 vs Bangladesh

709th: Paul Collingwood bowled 45 vs England