Prologue: Muttiah Muralitharan donned curtains to his career in a very emphatic way. A look-back into his cricketing prowess which is been an epitome for fellow-mates.
The stadium was engulfed with ooh’s and aah’s as Indian tail was keeping Murali at bay of his 800th test wicket. For a moment it seemed history would repeat itself. Back then, Sir Don Bradman fell short by 4 runs of having a unique record of more than 100 average in tests. But, for the spin wizard who is omnipresent at pole in every record for a bowler, pursuit for quarry finally came to an end. Pragyan Ojha ensured his space in record books as he became Murali’s final scalp in test cricket.
Murali’s voyage from a novice to the greatest has been rather an obnoxious rugged one. Throughout his career he has been smirched with allegations of chucking. Some have even levied ICC for mending rules for obliquely favoring Murali. Or his infamous tours to Australia where uncouth crowd was harrying him with quips and racial remarks. But, Murali always took things in positive stride and could always be seen with trademark guffaw cliché. Instead of quiver and arrow Murali used his wrist and ball to silence his vociferous critics.
Murali would be reminisced for his unique wrist off –spin action, popping vivacious eyes which more than glared at the batsmen and his rapturous gleefulness during batting. Like any other bowler Murali was sanguine about his batting skills. Those apart, no one could wager against Murali of not attempting to take a wicket in each delivery. Though sometimes, he could be seen bowling mundane phlegmatic spells. But, it was his way to subterfuge batsmen. He mastered the act of dissemblance and best of the best have been caught napping against him.
Murali’s closest rival in his time has been Shane Warne. Murali and Warne have allured cricketing world with their bunch of tricks. They always seem to have something up their sleeve to aghast the dismayed batsmen. But their careers couldn’t have been more antonymous. While Murali had maintained a very-low profile image outside the cricketing field, Warne was marred with sex and dope scandals. That apart except few trifle numbers nothing separates them in individual brilliance. In most ways Warne vs Murali is synonymous with Ponting vs Sachin debate. Where again, Sachin’s ubiquity in record book is well-known.
Murali is among those very few cricketers who haven’t dwindled away into retirement. His career in latter part though has been laden with injuries and fitness. One could even say he remained a silhouette of his prime days. But, his tenacity scraped him across the 800 mark. Very few sport-persons have exited arena on a high-note. Few of them are Pete Sampras( won his 14th grand slam), Warne & Glenn Mcgrath( won Ashes 5-0). Others like Michael Schumacher, Lance Armstrong at-least for now don’t make the cut.
We have been fortuitous to witness Murali bowling. His agleam ablaze still hackles the awe-struck batsmen in dreams and will mesmerize sport lovers like us for decades to come.
The stadium was engulfed with ooh’s and aah’s as Indian tail was keeping Murali at bay of his 800th test wicket. For a moment it seemed history would repeat itself. Back then, Sir Don Bradman fell short by 4 runs of having a unique record of more than 100 average in tests. But, for the spin wizard who is omnipresent at pole in every record for a bowler, pursuit for quarry finally came to an end. Pragyan Ojha ensured his space in record books as he became Murali’s final scalp in test cricket.
Murali’s voyage from a novice to the greatest has been rather an obnoxious rugged one. Throughout his career he has been smirched with allegations of chucking. Some have even levied ICC for mending rules for obliquely favoring Murali. Or his infamous tours to Australia where uncouth crowd was harrying him with quips and racial remarks. But, Murali always took things in positive stride and could always be seen with trademark guffaw cliché. Instead of quiver and arrow Murali used his wrist and ball to silence his vociferous critics.
Murali would be reminisced for his unique wrist off –spin action, popping vivacious eyes which more than glared at the batsmen and his rapturous gleefulness during batting. Like any other bowler Murali was sanguine about his batting skills. Those apart, no one could wager against Murali of not attempting to take a wicket in each delivery. Though sometimes, he could be seen bowling mundane phlegmatic spells. But, it was his way to subterfuge batsmen. He mastered the act of dissemblance and best of the best have been caught napping against him.
Murali’s closest rival in his time has been Shane Warne. Murali and Warne have allured cricketing world with their bunch of tricks. They always seem to have something up their sleeve to aghast the dismayed batsmen. But their careers couldn’t have been more antonymous. While Murali had maintained a very-low profile image outside the cricketing field, Warne was marred with sex and dope scandals. That apart except few trifle numbers nothing separates them in individual brilliance. In most ways Warne vs Murali is synonymous with Ponting vs Sachin debate. Where again, Sachin’s ubiquity in record book is well-known.
Murali is among those very few cricketers who haven’t dwindled away into retirement. His career in latter part though has been laden with injuries and fitness. One could even say he remained a silhouette of his prime days. But, his tenacity scraped him across the 800 mark. Very few sport-persons have exited arena on a high-note. Few of them are Pete Sampras( won his 14th grand slam), Warne & Glenn Mcgrath( won Ashes 5-0). Others like Michael Schumacher, Lance Armstrong at-least for now don’t make the cut.
We have been fortuitous to witness Murali bowling. His agleam ablaze still hackles the awe-struck batsmen in dreams and will mesmerize sport lovers like us for decades to come.
