Muttiah Muralitharan biography: Muttiah Muralitharan (born April 17, 1972, in Kandy, Sri Lanka) is a Sri Lankan cricketer whose unconventional delivery made him one of the most effective and controversial spin bowlers in history, allowing him to take more wickets in both Test and one-day international (ODI) cricket than anyone else.
Muttiah Muralitharan biography
Muralitharan attended St. Anthony’s College in Kandy and, on the advice of his coach, began bowling off-spin. At the age of 20, he made his Test debut against Australia, taking two wickets with successive balls. When England visited Sri Lanka the following year, many batsmen found Muralitharan’s spin difficult to read and expressed doubts about his bowling action’s legitimacy. Muralitharan appeared to flick the ball with a bent arm and flexible wrist rather than bowling it.
Balling with a twist:
The ball would be considered a throw (hence illegal) if his arm was bent and then straightened at the point of delivery, but Muralitharan’s arm remained bent throughout the action. Extensive studies of his action and the physiology of his right arm by the International Cricket Council (ICC) revealed that the bend was a natural deformity and thus not illegal.
Muralitharan was called for “chucking” (illegal delivery) seven times in one day by an Australian umpire in 1995, and again by two other Australian umpires in a one-day international match. But it wasn’t until four years later, in Australia, that he was charged with throwing again. Muralitharan’s development of a new type of delivery, dubbed the “doosra,” in which the ball turns away from a right-handed batsman prompted additional accusations of throwing in 2004. However, the ICC changed the rules in early 2005 to allow Muralitharan’s unusual arm movement.
Record-breaking performance:
Muralitharan’s dominance of batsmen was almost as constant as his controversy. In 2007, he became the second bowler in history to have 700 Test wickets in a career, and with his 709th wicket, he passed Australian Shane Warne to become the most prolific bowler in Test cricket history.
He also broke the record for most career ODI wickets taken in February 2009, surpassing Pakistan’s Wasim Akram’s 502 wickets. Muralitharan took his 800th Test wicket against India in July 2010, becoming the first bowler in cricket history to accomplish the seemingly impossible feat. He retired from international competition the following year.
Cricket Profile:
Muttiah Muralitharan is widely regarded as one of the nicest men to play cricket. Despite this, he has been at the centre of a number of controversies, none of which were his fault. When measured solely by numbers, Muralitharan is a giant performer who holds the record for most wickets in both One Day Internationals and Test matches. In fact, Murali’s bowling achievements are comparable to Tendulkar’s batting achievements.
Most people, however, see Murali through a lens – fair or unfair – and questions about the legality of his actions have followed him throughout his career. He has been cleared numerous times by biomechanical experts, the ICC, and independent observers, but the critics will not go away. He’s been called for chucking by umpires in Australia, and he’s been questioned every time he steps onto the field.
Nobody can deny that Murali can perform miracles with a cricket ball in his hands. With his prodigious spin and subtle variations, he has perplexed generations of batsmen and has frequently been a one-man army for Sri Lankan bowling.
Murali’s talent was never in doubt, but he really blossomed a few years after his debut in 1992. His statistics from 1998 onwards tell the story of a spectacular decade. He averaged 20.80 in Tests and 21.23 in One-Day Internationals, taking over 1000 international wickets (653 in Tests and 405 in ODIs).
Struggles in career:
In contrast to his international success, Murali has never been able to replicate his achievements in Australia. That may be due in part to the fact that Australia has had the best international team for much of his career, but it is also due in large part to the abuse he has received from the Australian press, players, and public. The only other country where Murali has struggled is India.
Among the plethora of records Murali has set, one startling fact is that he bowls more than 55 overs per Test on average. And that figure comes after a career spanning 17 years and 131 Tests, the majority of which he was not the team’s strike bowler.
The Spin Wizard:
Murali has been accused of picking up a lot of ‘cheap’ wickets by frequently playing against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, but even excluding his statistics against these two teams, he still has world-beating figures of 612 Test wickets at an average of 24.73 – which, incidentally, is better than Shane Warne’s career average of 25.41.
The spin wizard ended Test cricket in 2010 with a wicket off his last ball, bringing his career total to 800 wickets. The final script had a romantic tone, which was appropriate. The ODI flame, however, remained lit until the 2011 World Cup. Murali has also played in international T20 leagues such as the IPL, BBL, and CPL. His game’s beauty persisted even in his final moments on the bowling pitch, where he took his 800th test wicket with the very last ball he bowled.
Web series based on the life of Muralitharan:
On the occasion of the Sri Lankan cricket legend’s 51st birthday, Movie Train Motion Pictures unveiled the first motion poster for its Muttiah Muralitharan biopic 800. On Monday, the producers released the poster for the Tamil film, which stars Slumdog Millionaire actor Madhurr Mittal as the spinner. Previously, Vijay Sethupathi was set to play the cricketer in the biopic. He did, however, withdraw from the project in 2020.
So, this was all about the Muttiah Muralitharan biography. Also read, Ashwin reveals the mental state of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.
