Muttiah Muralitharan

Muttiah Muralitharan commonly known as Murali was born on April 17, 1972 in Kandy, Sri Lanka. He is regarded as the greatest off-spin bowler in cricket history but his career has not been without controversy. The legality of his bowling action remained under question for some time but later it was scientifically proven that his bowling action is legal.

Muralitharan during 2004, became an ambassador for the United Nations World Food Program and joined an anti-poverty campaign. He narrowly escaped the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake “Tsunami” by just about 20 minutes. A week later, he was seen helping distribute food to victims of the tsunami victims. He is one of the few Tamils to have played for the Sri Lankan team. Muralitharan is married to an Indian woman, Madhimalar Ramamurthy.

Muralitharan since joining cricket team in 1992, has taken over 600 Test wickets and over 400 One-day International wickets. First man to take 1,000 wickets combined in the two main forms of international cricket. Presently his bowling test average is 21.73, which compares favourably with other contemporary spin bowlers like the Indian spinner Anil Kumble (28.65) and Shane Warne (25.41) and. In 2002, analysis of all Test matches, ranked him the greatest cricketers in history and ranked as the number one bowler of all time. However, Murali failed to make it into the top Wisden Cricketers of the the twentieth century.

Muralitharan’s unique bowling action starting with a flapping wings run-up and extremely wristy release was mistaken for a leg spinner early in his career. Aside from his off break, he often bowls a fast topspinner which goes straight on. He also master “”doosra”, a surprise delivery which turns from leg to off with no visible change of blowing action. In May 2004, he broke West Indian Courtney Walsh’s test record of 519 wickets to become the highest wicket-taker. However, cricketers pundits believes that Muralitharan will eventually be the one to finish with the record of “1000 wickets” before he retires. Murali believes that there is a possibility he will reach this milestone

Muralitharan presently holds a number of world records and several firsts:
Highest number of international wickets in Tests and ODIs combined.
The most 5-wicket hauls in an innings at Test level
The most 10-wicket hauls in a match at Test level
Murali and Jim Laker of England are the only two bowlers to have taken 9 wickets in a Test innings two times.
Only player to take 50 or more wickets against every Test playing nation.
Only player against every Test playing nation to take 10 wickets in a Test match.
Fastest to get 350, 400, 450, 500, 550, 600 and 650 Test wickets
Only player to take 10 wickets in a Test match in consecutive four matches, twice.
Taken 7 wickets in an single innings against the most countries.