July 2010

Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, one of the most controversial and accomplished figures in cricket, announced that the upcoming Test match against India in Galle, Sri Lanka, will be his last. Choosing to concentrate on the shorter formats of the game, Murali will walk away after 133 tests. His figures currently stand at a record 792 wickets, a best-innings return of 9/51, a best-match haul of 16/220, and an average of 22.71, with 66 five-wicket sets and 22 ten-wicket sets.

The figures, impressive, legendary and record-breaking as they are, tell only half the story. He holds the record for the most wickets in international Test & ODI cricket, has taken more five-fors than any other bowler in history, and was called the "best bowler ever" in the 2002 edition of the Wisden Cricketer's Almanac. Wisden also called him "the leading cricketer in the world" in 2006. He's taken a 5-for against every Test-playing country, and has taken 50 or more wickets against all of them - England, Australia, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, South Africa, New Zealand and Zimbabwe.  He's the only player to have taken 10 or more wickets in four consecutive games, and he's done that on two occasions. "b(owled) Muralitharan" is the most common dismissal in Test cricket. Matthew Hayden and Kevin Pietersen have singled out Murali as the toughest bowler they've faced. 

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