A Legend Named Murali

A LEGEND NAMED MURALI

Slanted action, grotesque facial expression, a final push, the sound of the timber followed by the complementary smile; this is the Muralitharan we have known for the past 18 years, a master class on field and a champion off it. Murali as he is known popularly has been the face of Sri Lankan cricket for the past 15 years; spinning his team to the World Cup victory in 1996 and also establishing his team as a major force in the international cricket. In the process he broke all possible bowling records, not that he cared for them but his infatuation with cricket had driven him that far.

Murali started his career from the Tamil Union and Athletic Club in 1990 and within two years barged into the Sri Lankan team against the touring Australian side, his first scalp being Craig McDermott but it was the wicket of Tom Moody that brought him to the limelight; a ball pitching two feet outside the off stump to which Moody shouldered his arms and bang went the ball disturbing his leg stump, this was just the start of something legendary, something huge in the annals of cricketing history. As Murali harbored from strength to strength he went on to become the leading Sri Lankan wicket taker within 4 years of his debut. Not only did he get wickets but he got them with in consummate ease and almost at will. The angular run up building up to his delivery acted as a perfect decoy to the batsmen, there was an element of treachery in his deliveries; it pitched outside off lured the batsmen into the drives and then the ball skitted and turned viciously at right angles to disturb the bails. If his ultra ‘off spins’ were not enough the ‘doosra’ was an even deadlier addition to his repertoire, the ‘doosra’ instead of turning the conventional way from left to right spun the other way round and with it most of the times the match itself.

Then again not every story is perfect, Murali was called by Australian umpire Darrell Hair during the 1995 Boxing Day test and 10 days later in an ODI against West Indies by one more Australian umpire Ross Emerson for ‘throwing’ instead of ‘bowling’ the ball which led to his bowling action coming under heavy scrutiny and side by side earned him a tag of a ‘chucker’ by the Australian crowd but then it was Murali they were dealing with, the furore off the field was matched by an even more delightful bowling display on it, he became the first Sri Lankan bowler to cross 100 wicket in Test cricket against New Zealand in the 1997 series. His action was officially given the clean chit in 1996 and 1999 by ICC. Murali during this period was almost impossible to play especially in the subcontinent though many believed he would not be able to recreate the same magic outside it but then came the 1998 Oval match against England where he took 9-65 in 54.2 overs and suddenly the spotlight turned to him and after that there was no looking back.

Murali’s success was not only a product of his own bowling but also because of a certain man named Shane Warne; both of them were arguably the best spin bowlers cricket had ever seen, it was not the destination but it was the journey to it which made the contest even more pleasurable- the record for the highest number of wickets in Test cricket. Murali was the first to break the record when he captured Mluleki Nkala for his 520th scalp breaking Courtney Walsh’s record but then a shoulder surgery sidelined him from Test cricket and Warne joined into the party surpassing Murali’s then record of 532 wickets, he then became the first bowler to reach 700 wickets and retired at a tally of 708. Murali reclaimed the top spot after capturing the wicket of Paul Collingwood and he achieved the feat in 116 tests twenty nine matches less than his counterpart Warne. In his last match before retiring he needed 8 wickets to complete his 800 wicket mark and being the champion that he is, he finished his career on the highest possible note by getting the wicket of Pragyan Ojha, completing the 800 wicket mark and also getting a wicket of the last ball of his career; a perfect finish for a perfect man.

The most imminent question that pop ups after the retirement of Murali is who is going to replace him? Are the Mendises, the Harbhajans and the Swanns potent enough to continue the legacy? As a cricket fan one would be gunning for a yes but somewhere at the back of your brain you know that the wickets will no longer come at that frantic pace, the ball will no longer spit from one side of the pitch to the other, the innocuous grin will no longer come after taking the wicket, the man from Kandy would no longer be seen, the man who was a champion, the man who was a legend, the man named MURALI.

Soham Sarkhel