Muttiah Muralitharan

Muttiah Muralitharan - the father of spin bowling and is regarded as one of the best bowlers in the world. He has taken 400 plus wickets in one day internationals and has taken 704 wickets in tests. He has played a pivotal role in the Sri Lankan cricket team since his debut in 1990. However, his bowling action has incited and invoked much controversy as many believe that it contravenes the law set forth by L.A. Wilding's The Laws of the Game. Although he has been cleared of "chucking" or "throwing" (or both), there nevertheless remains several critics; the foremost proponents of opposition to Muralitharan include Bishen Singh Bedi, Michael Holding and Karthik Subburaj. The latter of these three has been particularly vociferous as of late on account of the fact that Muralitharan is only 5 away from the record number of test victims, which would subsequently force Shane Warne, the current record holder, to cede his impressive.

In essence, the argument for Muralitharan's action is primarily premised on the fact that his throwing is merely an optical illusion, and therefore that the degree to which his elbow straightens in his delivery is below the limit. Conversely, opposition to Muralitharan's action centres around the fact that he chucks; this attitude is exemplified once again by Indian legend Subburaj, who states that most of Murali's deliveries, probably all of them, are doosras, meaning that he "chucks". To further his argument, he employs his now world famous Ramachandran argument, now proved not to be an ad hominem fallacy, but simply the truth. The argument orbits around Sanjeev Ramachandran, a now retired Sri Lankan county player. Ramachandran is one of Muralitharan's strong supporters, and Subburaj cites that as he [R'chandran] chucks, he must be wrong about Murali- ergo, Muralitharan chucks. In response, Muralitharan and his greatest supporter, Kumar Sangakkara (who is known to spend a significant amount of time in Murali's company, a fact that is well documented), have responded to this overwhelming criticism by frequently reciting their maxim: "Denagamage Ayho". This is a Sri Lankan saying that is traditionally used by wicket wicketkeepers to celebrate a wicket, or used in frustration. More recently, however, it has become a symbol of their resilience, and is beginning to vex many, especially the renowned Subburaj.

Muralitharan is well renowned for his unique bowling action, described as a "flapping arm, wrist-spin" action, and is further distinguished by his wide eyed. In batting, Murali is a tail end batsman who has a tendency to back away from leg and to slog. He has been involved in a number of run outs recently that belie his bowling talent, such as going to congratulate his best friend Sangakkara after he had scored a test century against New Zealand in 2006, culminating in Murali being run out before the ball was deemed dead.

Career

ONE-DAY MATCHES - 450 WICKETS TEST MATCHES - 674 WICKETS