Muttiah Magic.......

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July 22  marks the anniversary of Sri Lankan spin legend Muttiah Muralitharan's 800th wicket in Test cricket. Muralitharan picked his final Test wicket of the final ball of his career before bidding goodbye to the traditional form of cricket.

On the last day of his 18-year-long Test career, Muralitharan brought up the unprecedented --- and perhaps unsurpassable --- milestone when India's No. 11 Pragyan Ojha, having blunted the Lankan attack for close to an hour, edged an off-break to the hands of Mahela Jayawardene at slip.

Jayawardene lunged to his left to take a sharp catch as the the crowd at the Galle International Stadium, which had been decorated for the off-spinner's swansong, burst into spontaneous celebrations.

Sri Lanka's most loved son, who made his Test debut in August 1992 against Australia, battled numerous problems in his illustrious and controversial career, most notably being no-balled for throwing, each time by Australian umpires.

After Day 2 of this Test was washed out, it seemed Murali would miss the record. But the Indian line-up self-destructed in this game, helping him reach the coveted landmark.

Muralitharan had to bowl 44.4 overs for his three wickets in the innings. In the first innings, he had taken 5-63 to shoot India out. He had some weeks back announced his retirement from Tests at the end of this game.

Sri Lanka were set a 95-run target and their openers overhauled it with ease to give Muralitharan a perfect farewell.

Muralitharan claimed the Test record twice. In 2004, he took his 520th wicket in Harare to surpass Courtney Walsh. Shane Warne held the record in between for less than a year. In December 2007, Murali took his 709th in the Kandy Test against England to surpass Warne.

After Test retirement, Muralitharan continued to play the shorter formats with the 2011 ICC World Cup final against India being his last One Day International.

Muralitharan retired after taking 534 ODI wickets from 350 matches at 23.08 and an overall tally of 1347 international wickets (800 in Tests, 534 in ODIs and 13 in T20Is).

Muralitharan also holds the record for most five-wicket hauls in Tests doing it 67 times, next best is Australian spin great Shane Warne with 37 five-wicket hauls.

He is also the only second bowler after Jim Laker (10/53 and 9/28) to bag nine wickets (9/51 and 9/65) in an innings two times.

He became the first player from Sri Lanka and the 83rd overall to be formally inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame when ICC CEO Dave Richardson presented him with a commemorative framed cap.



                                              - Shounak Kulkarni 

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