Sri Lanka’s best ever bowler, and highest wicket-taker in the world, Muthiah Muralitharan has said that he may end his cricket career even before the 2011 World Cup if things do not go to his plan. Earlier, Muralitharan had said that he would give up on the longer format of the game to continue playing for his country till the next edition of the World Cup which will be played in 2011 where Sri Lanka is one of the co-hosts.
Muralitharan has had a rather bleak test match series against India so far with only five wickets off the two test matches at an average of almost 80 runs per wicket. Whilst his record in India has usually not been very good thanks to the best players of spin against him, this series has exposed serious chinks in his now aging body. The 37-year old has said that earlier he could bowl as many overs as his captain demanded from him in a day, but for now, that has reduced to 15-16 overs before his body begins to feel tired.
Muttiah Muralitharan
In fact, Murali’s biggest area of strength was his ability to continue bowling and spinning the ball hard on any pitch regardless of the type of surface. However, with injuries and age catching up, his fingers and his groin injuries meant that he had decided on not playing in the test match variety of the game from next year. He has already said that the current series against India will be his last overseas tour, and from now, he would be only playing matches at home. Murali also plays for the Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League and has had a mediocre performance in the two editions of the IPL so far.
However, Murali has now said that if his body does not hold up, he may consider retiring from all formats of the game. He was quoted as saying, “But I will try and play a little bit of one-day cricket – that’s only 10 overs to bowl. If I find everything is not going well I might retire from both forms of the game before the World Cup.”
He also said that whilst he would have loved to win Sri Lanka’s first ever test match in India, the lack of results in a country which has traditionally the best players of spin is not something he wants to lose his sleep over.
(Image credit – Wikipedia)
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