5 short cricketers who went on to become all-time greats 

#2 Muttiah Muralitharan – 5’5’’

The greatest spinner of all time, Muttiah Muralitharan.

Skill, magic and determination are few worlds which clearly define a Sri Lankan great Muttiah Muralitharan. Even with 800 Test wickets (most by a bowler in Tests) and 534 (again most by a bowler in ODIs), Muralitharan is one of the nicest guys to have played cricket.

A match-winner who can turn the game and run through a batting line-up, Muralitharan generally weaved magic with a cricket ball.

He has flummoxed generations of batsmen with his prodigious spin, subtle variations and often been a one-man army for the Sri Lankan bowling.

He took a struggling cricketing nation, and, aided by some excellent teammates, placed it firmly on the established high peaks. The average of 22.72 and strike-rate of 55, both of which are audacious for a spinner, Muralitharan was perhaps Sri Lanka’s greatest match-winner.