This Day That Year: Sri Lankan legend ends career with an amazing feat

-

On 22nd July 2010, Sri Lankan great Muttiah Muralitharan achieved the remarkable of picking 800 wickets in Test matches against India during the last day of the first Test match played at Galle International Stadium, Galle.

A brilliant performance by the Sri Lankan batsmen helped them to post a massive total of 520 for 8. Muralitharan was at his best in the first innings by picking figures of 5 for 63. He took wickets of Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni, Pragyan Ojha, and Abhimanyu Mithun.

Sri Lankan decided to follow on. In this innings too, Muralitharan took wickets of Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh. He picked the wicket of Pragyan Ojha to pick staggering 800th wicket in Test matches. Sri Lanka bowled India for 338. TM Dilshan and Paranvitana chased down the target with ease as the hosts won the match by 10 wickets.

It was a fitting farewell for the legend who played with greats of Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, and other Sri Lankan players.

Muralitharan made his Test debut for Sri Lanka on 28th August 1992 against South Africa. He took a total of 3 wickets in the innings. After not so impressive debut, he created havoc among opposition batsmen and deceived with his flight and guile.

He played a total of 133 matches (230 innings) and took a staggering 800 wickets with career-best figures of 9 for 51 in an innings. Muralitharan finished his Test career with 45 times four-wicket haul while 67 times five-wicket haul. He had picked a total of 22 times 10 wicket haul in an innings.
Muralitharan first victim in Test cricket was Craig McDermott of Australia in his debut Test match. He continued to impress with his spin bowling. His 100th wicket was Stephen Fleming. His ability to turn the ball on good batting pitches created an impact on the matches.

It was an amazing journey for Muralitharan who took his 200th Test wicket by taking Dominic Cork of England. He then went on to grab his 300th the wicket of Shaun Pollock from South Africa. His 400th wicket was Henry Olanga of Zimbabwe.

He troubled best batsmen all over the world especially in-home conditions. He is the only player in international cricket to take 10 wickets against every test playing nation. In Sri Lankan conditions, Muralitharan has taken 493 wickets which is a record. His performance against every country was superb and made sure that Sri Lanka would win matches due to his remarkable show with the ball.

He is the leading wicket-taker in Test matches. Shane Warne of Australia, Anil Kumble of India, James Anderson of England and Glenn McGrath completes the top 5 leading wicket-takers in the longest format.

Murali signs off with 800 | Cricket | ESPNcricinfo.com
This Day That Year: Muralitharan picked his 800th wicket in Test matches against India  



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Malaysia Open 2025 Day 3: Disappointing Outing For Indian Shuttlers

-
Image
  The Indian shuttlers had a disappointing outing as only one of them made it into the quarterfinals of the Super 1000 Malaysia Open 2025 played at Axiata Arena, Kuala Lumpur on 9 th January. HS Prannoy, women’s doubles pair of Tressa Jolly suffered narrow losses while Bansod, mixed doubles pair of Crasto/Kapila, and other pair lost in a one-sided affair. Tressa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand suffered a heartbreaking loss to Jia Ya Fan and Zhang of China in three thrilling games. The Indian pair struggled in the initial phases of the first game trailing by 3-6 before taking 7 points in succession to put the pressure back on the Chinese pair. At the mid-game interval, the Indians had an 11-7 lead. After the break, Jolly and Gopichand showed domination with smashes and drop shots keeping consistent pressure on the Chinese pair before winning the first game at 21-15. The second game began well with Jolly and Gopichand taking a decent lead in the initial phases. Ji and Zhang showed g...
Read more

Asia Champions Trophy 2024: India Enters Finals With Commanding Win

-
Image
  The defending Champions India registered a commanding win in the 2 nd semi-finals against South Korea of the Asian Champions Trophy 2024 played in Hulunbir, Inner Mongolia on 16 th September. Indian team began the first quarter on a good note with Abhishek's reverse flick shot saved by Korean goalkeeper Kim Jahean. After the initial domination, a superb pass by Arijit with a goal by Uttam Singh in the 13 th minute to give India a 1-0 lead. Soon after, Korea’s two penalty corners before the third penalty corner as the shot hits Sumit’s body.   At the end of the first quarter, India led 1-0. The second quarter began off superbly for the Indian team as they put pressure on the Korean defense. Harmanpreet Singh converted the second penalty corner in the 19 th minute to double the lead. Both teams tried to put pressure on each other’s defense, but did not yield any results. At the end of the first half, India led 2-0. India dominated the first half with 61% as compared to...
Read more

ICC T20 World Cup 2024 Super 8: England Qualify For Semi-Finals With Thrashing Of USA

-
Image
  The defending Champions England qualified for the semi-finals with a thrashing of the USA in a must-win game played at Kensington Oval, Barbados on 23 rd June 2024. England captain Jos Buttler won the toss and decided to field first. Reece Topley struck in the first over dismissing Andries Gous with a simple catch to Salt. Nitish Kumar and Steve Taylor steadied the ship for the USA. Sam Curran dismissed Steve Taylor caught by Moeen Ali. Taylor and Nitish Kumar added 34 runs for the 2 nd wicket. It was a disciplined bowling effort by the England bowlers as they kept picking wickets at regular intervals. Sam Curran struck to dismiss Harmeet Singh. Chris Jordan became the first England bowler to grab a hat trick in the T20I format. Jordan dismissed Corey Anderson, Ali Khan, and Kenjige. He then got rid of Saurabh Netravalkar to bowl out USA for 115 in 18.5 overs. It was a superb bowling performance by England bowlers. Chris Jordan picked 4 for 10, Adil Rashid and Sam Curran to...
Read more