Murali lifts overall Sri Lanka performances

By A. C. de Silva

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CRICKET: The early success that Muttiah Muralitharan had during his schooldays gave ace Sri Lanka’s off-spinner the much needed strength to go forward in cricket here in Sri Lanka and in the outside world.

A debatable point in modern cricket was whether spin will play a decisive role in big-time cricket. One person can swing the debate to the spin side is Muttiah Muralitharan.

Turning pitch or not, he makes the best batsmen dance to his tune. Like Shane Warne, Murali stamped a remarkable comeback after a career threatening injury and his guile is undiminished. Murali renews faith for the spinners of the other sides who look at his example and rework their strategies.

His action has been described as that of a short-panther and his flashing white teeth can never be missed on T.V.

In the 1996 World Cup that Sri Lanka won, he claimed seven wickets.

A physical deformity from, birth does not allow him to straighten his bowling arm and this has caused him enough of problems in the past, but this seems to have been settled now with the ICC satisfied with his action.

Wisden has rated him as the Best Bowler of all time - it is significant that Sri Lanka win matches and it has been observed that he captures 57 per cent of his team’s wickets, an incredible strike rate.

When Murali plays, he lifts the overall Sri Lanka performances because he adds to the team’s confidence and morale.

Murali can be called upon by his captain to get wickets or slow down the run rate. It is often that he is that out of the attack. Batsmen appear to have difficulty in not only picking his stock delivery, but also the ball that straightens and sometimes spins the other way.

To tackle him, batsmen can use the option to try and hit him out of the attack and destroy his confidence or otherwise play him out and not concede their wicket while collecting 30 runs from his 10 overs - that’s in limited-over cricket.

Either way, Murali is rarely destroyed by anyone. Even though Murali has failed to make impact on World Cups, he is rated as the Best Bowler in one-day cricket, behind may be Glann McGrath - the Aussie paceman who has given-up big-time cricket.