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Top 10 Interesting Facts about Muttiah Muralitharan

Deshabandu Muttiah Muralitharan is a Sri Lankan cricket coach, former professional cricketer and businessman .  Muralitharan is a giant performer and holds the records for most wickets in One Day Internationals as well as Test matches. In fact, what Murali has did in bowling is akin to what Tendulkar has did in batting.

Averaging over six wickets per Test match, Muralitharan is widely regarded as the most successful and one of the greatest bowlers in the history of the sport. However, he has on occasion been called for chucking. The interesting fact is that Murali weaves magic with a cricket ball that he was often seen as a one-man army for the Sri Lankan bowling. Let鈥檚 look at the top 10 interesting facts about Muttiah Muralitharan.

1.  鈥極ne Man Army鈥� Muralitharan

The greatest off-spinner in the history of international cricket, Muttiah Muralitharan was a delight to watch. He was one of the greatest players ever to don the Sri Lankan jersey. He had an international career span of almost 20 years and the veteran off-spinner hung his boots from all forms of cricket after the 2011 World Cup where Sri Lanka lost the final to India.

Murali had already retired from Test cricket in 2010 after picking his 800th and final wicket on 22 July 2010 from his final ball in his last Test match. Muralitharan holds the world record for the most wickets in both Test and one-day cricket.

2.  Muralitharan the Controversial Cricket Magician

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Few modern-day sports persons have faced the kind of scrutiny that Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan for his unorthodox bowling action. And even fewer emerged stronger from such controversies. The cricketer, often referred to as the 鈥渕agician鈥� had an extraordinary career beginning in August 1992, he surpassed all the obstacles with sheer iron will and in 2005, the ICC modified the rules to allow his unusual arm movement.

A key moment to remember is when cricket鈥檚 ancient hyper-morality met the modern world鈥檚 thirst for reality television. The focus for this communion was Muttiah Muralitharan and, more specifically, his bowling action. Two TV channels broadcast what was paraded as definitive acquittals of Muralitharan鈥檚 action that had been subject of heated debate.

Muralitharan went through his repertoire with a steel-embedded plaster brace around his right arm, from bicep to wrist and in good nature. He could not chuck with a steel brace on. He bowled to Michael Slater in one, to recreate match conditions eventually who cleared his unique bowling.

3.  1996 World Cup was Muralitharan’s Crowning Moment

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Twenty-five years on it remains the most iconic moment in Sri Lanka鈥檚 cricket history 鈥� their ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup victory in 1996. Ranked underdogs going into the tournament, Sri Lanka went on to beat one of the favourites in the final. They defeated Australia by seven wickets as Muralitharan took an economic 1/31 off his 10 overs.

He was one of only two Sri Lankans to leak less than five runs an over for the match. It was the kind of frugality Muralitharan stood out for throughout the tournament, with his economy of 3.77 the fifth-best of anyone who took more than five wickets at the event.

He took seven wickets for the campaign and went on to finish his career with 68 at 19.63 in World Cup matches. Only Glenn McGrath (71 at 18.19) has taken more.

4.  Muralitharan ICC Hall of Fame

In 2017, he became the first Sri Lankan to be included in the ICC Hall of Fame.  ICC Chairman Dave Richardson handed the former off-spinner the Hall of Fame memento in front of the Sri Lankan squad who were playing India in a Champions Trophy Group B Game at the Oval at that time.

Muralitharan holds the world record for the most wickets in both Tests and ODIs. Averaging over six wickets per Test, Muralitharan is one of the most successful bowlers in the history of the game and held the number one spot in the ICC Test bowling rankings for a record period of 1,711 days spanning 214 Test matches.

5.  Muralitharan was a Wisden Greatest Test Match Bowler

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Murali was rated the greatest Test match bowler ever by Wisden Cricketers鈥� Almanack in 2002. n 2017, he became the only Sri Lankan to be inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame. He has the most 5-wicket hauls in an innings at Test level. Murali is also the only player to take ten wickets in a Test in four consecutive matches. He achieved this feat twice. Apart from all this, Murali has a plethora of world records to his name in international cricket which he achieved during his stint on the international stage.

Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, or simply Wisden, colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description “bible of cricket” was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a review for the London Mercury.

6.  Muttiah Muralitharan India Citizenship

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However, Muttiah Muralitharan has a deep connection with India. Did you know that Muttiah Muralitharan has dual citizenship in both Sri Lanka and India? Muralitharan holds an Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) and thus does not need a visa to come to the country. The reason for this special status 鈥� Muttiah Muralitharan鈥檚 family originates from India.

His grandfather, Periyasamy Sinasamy came from South India to work in the tea plantations of central Sri Lanka in 1920. He settled there for a long time and gave birth to Muralitharan鈥檚 father, Muttiah. Sinasamy then returned back to India where he settled down in Tiruchirapalli while Muttiah stayed back in Kandy to run a successful biscuit-making business.

OCI is Overseas Citizenship of India. It is an immigration status authorising a foreign citizen of Indian origin to live and work in India for an indefinite period. The OCI card was launched by the Government of India to meet the demands of the Indians residing overseas who insisted on dual citizenship.

7.  Muttiah Muralitharan Escape 2014 Killer Waves

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Sri Lankan spin great Muttiah Muralitharan declared himself “lucky to be alive” after narrowly missing one of the tsunamis that have claimed more than 21,500 lives and devastated large areas of Asia.

Muralitharan was recovering from shoulder surgery in Sri Lanka while his teammates toured New Zealand. He had spent the weekend in the southern coastal city of Galle, handing out cricket bats to underprivileged children with his manager Kushil Gunasekera.

Just minutes after Muralitharan drove out of the city, Galle was all but wiped out by the tsunamis. Triggered by the fifth-largest earthquake in 100 years, tidal waves tore across the Bay of Bengal and slammed into Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India, Thailand, the Maldives, Malaysia and the Andaman Islands.

8.   The Warne-Muralidharan Trophy

The Warne鈥揗uralidaran Trophy is awarded to the winner of the Australia鈥揝ri Lanka Test cricket series from the 2007鈥�08 season onwards. The trophy is named after the two leading wicket-takers in Test cricket, Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan and Australia’s Shane Warne. The trophy celebrates the anniversary of Australia鈥揝ri Lanka Test cricket.

It features casts of the two bowlers’ right hands and match-used cricket balls bowled by them during their careers. Sri Lanka Cricket, the governing body of cricket in Sri Lanka had written to its Australian counterpart, Cricket Australia, that the winner of the series should be awarded a trophy named after the two bowlers. Cricket Australia had responded positively to the Sri Lankans’ proposal. In unveiling the trophy.

The Warne鈥揗uralidaran trophy became the latest addition to the series of trophies named after former players such as the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, for Test series between Australia and India and the Chappell鈥揌adlee Trophy which is contested between Australia and New Zealand in ODI format.

9.  Muralitharan was deadly to many Batsmen

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His dominance of batsmen will forever be remembered. In 2007 he became the second bowler to collect 700 Test wickets in a career, and when he took his 709th wicket, he passed Australian Shane Warne to become the most prolific bowler in the history of Test cricket.

 Muralitharan also assumed the record for most career wickets taken in ODI, surpassing the 502 wickets amassed by Pakistan鈥檚 Wasim Akram in Feb 2009. In the final match of his Test career, against India in July 2010, Muralitharan took his 800th Test wicket, becoming the first bowler in cricket history to reach that seemingly unreachable mark.

10.  Muralitharan the Coach

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Muralitharan retired from all forms of cricket in April 2011. Since his retirement, Murali has taken up the coaching role and has had successful stints with various teams over the years as a coach. In 2014, Muralitharan joined the Australian national team as a coaching consultant for the Test series against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates. On 11 March 2014, he was appointed as the spin bowling consultant for the Cricket Association of Bengal.

For many, Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan could not be born at a better time. The sport of cricket as we know was entering a new era; the era of spin. His career was plagued by several controversies but one thing has remained 鈥� his irresistible and prideful smile.