So its all over. Career of much debated bowler Murali is all set to end in few days time. At least in Tests. He would be eyeing 800 wikats against India, that is US. Murali was the lone SL bowler who bowled endlessly from one end all over the years and seemed to be non stop. But he is a human after all and in 2009 he started to diminish in his aura and wickets stopped coming. If SL had their way, they would have had Murali bowl all 90 overs in a day in the test matches in their own backyard. Not to forget that he has bowled most deliveries in Test cricket. A debate would always continue on the topic how many of those deliveries which took 792 wikats were legal ones or how many of them were illegal ones which still got him wikats and a place at the top of bowling charts to end up as most prolific wikat taker.
He has left behind the likes of Shane Warne, Anil Kumble, Glenn McGrath, Wasim Akram, Richard Hadlee and West Indian greats Marshall, Walsh, Ambrose, Holding and Garner in wikats tally. He had his share of cheap wickets against hapless Zimbabweans and Bangladeshis.
176 wikats in 25 against this 2 teams. Warne had 17 in 3 against this 2.
Exclude 176 and his record comes down to 616 from 107. As good as 5.7 wikats a Test match. Most of those wikats came on super boring pitches of SL aided by run machines Sanga, Mahela, Attapattu and Samarweera who kept on going and going and going for days together. And then Murali would come and bamboozle the visiting teams. England, SA, West Indies, NZ, BD and Zim sank without a fight. Aussies and Indians did put some fight and Pakistan surprisingly until 2009 won.
Murali when toured SA or Ind or Aus was not among wikats. He has a poor record in this countries. He did not tour SA since 2002. And in the meantime he travelled Zim 2 times (2005) and BD 3 times. He took 9 wikats 2 times and almost had perfect 10 once.
He won SL test matches with 5 wikat hauls as good as Sehwag sixes or Ijaz Butt u-turns. How many of those victories were memorable or hard earned ? Very few. Did he win in India or Australia or South Africa ? No. How many times did he dismiss Rahul Dravid, Ricky Ponting, Jacques Kallis and Sachin Tendulkar in his career ? Don’t forget Brian Lara whom he got many times but was hammered mercilessly every time he faced the legend.
Who were his victims ? The poor players of spin in Lankan conditions when the batsmen would bat long for 3 days and then unleash Murali’s illegal deliveries on them. SL won 44 Tests when Murali played. Drew a lot more and lost a little less.
He had an illegal action, he bowled illegal deliveries, he had Jaggu Dalmiya installed at ICC to have the rule changed to accommodate his illegal bowling, had a strong character (the only one with real character) captain in Arjuna who fought for him. All this ensured Murali would continue to bowl his illegal deliveries at batsmen at behest of an optical illusion of bent arm.
Whats his legacy ? Chuckers are now assured that sooner or later they would be allowed to play, thanks to a faulty 15 degree rule made by ICC to benefit and accommodate illegal bowlers like Murali, Shoaib Akhtar, Shabbir Ahmed and Lasith Malinga.
For me like many others he would forever remain a Chucker and an illegal bowler who by means of strong headed captains and administrators found a way out to bowl despite having illegal action.
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