All-time combined India-Sri Lanka ODI XI

#11 Muttiah Muralitharan

Muralitharan spun a web of deceit around the batsmen

Probably no other country relied upon a single player as much as Sri Lanka relied upon Muttiah Muralitharan. What made Murali lethal was his exceptional ability to spin the ball massively on surfaces where lesser bowlers were unable to extract even an iota of spin. Although regarded as an off-spinner, he could spin the ball prodigiously away from the right-hander too.

The Doosra, which is now an indispensable weapon in the armory of most spinners, owes much of its popularity to Murali. Murali not only snaffled wickets by the bucketload but did so whilst leaking very few runs as his ridiculously low economy rate of 3.93 demonstrates. It was so difficult to score off Murali that he was often asked to bowl at the death overs, which was unusual for a spinner.

He formed one half of the famous 'Shane Warne vs Muttiah Muralitharan' rivalry, that captivated the cricket lovers of the modern era. With 534 wickets in 350 ODIs and a mind-blowing 800 wickets in 133 Tests, he stands atop the list of the highest wicket-takers in both formats.

This smiling assassin from Kandy can be a thorn in the flesh of the batsmen on any pitch and hence, is an automatic choice for the slot of the lone spinner.