ICC commends Sri Lanka's decision to suspend Randiv

The International Cricket Council has welcomed the decision of the Sri Lanka Cricket to act swiftly and decisively in relation to an incident that took place at the conclusion of the third ODI between Sri Lanka and India at Dambulla on Monday.
With India requiring just one run to win, Sri Lanka bowler Suraj Randiv bowled a no-ball which secured the victory for his opponent and denied India batsman Virender Sehwag, who was on 99 at the time, the opportunity to reach a century.
Having found its cricketers guilty in the 'No Ball' incident, the Sri Lanka Cricket Board on Wednesday decided to suspend its cricketer Randiv for a One- Day International match.
He was found guilty for throwing a ' No Ball' allegedly to prevent Sehwag from completing his century in match.
Randiv will not be able to play Thursday's match against New Zealand.
"The Spirit of Cricket is a fundamental part of our great sport and it is pleasing to see our Members upholding it in such a decisive manner," said ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat referring to the strong action taken by SLC following the incident.
"This is a clear sign that the notion of fair play is still very important to those who love the game of cricket and we commend SLC on its commitment to that.
"As far as the ICC is concerned it was an unfortunate incident and the matter is now closed," he added. (ANI)
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Reprimands as Sehwag denied ton

LAST month's Pakistan-Australia Test series was dubbed the Spirit of Cricket tour, but the best example of that spirit has come in an unrelated series.

Sri Lanka Cricket has banned off-spinner Suraj Randiv for one match and fined his teammate Tillakaratne Dilshan his entire match fee after the pair conspired to deny India's Virender Sehwag his century in a one-day tri-series match in Sri Lanka earlier this week.

India was coasting to victory against Sri Lanka in Dambulla, with Sehwag 99 not out and scores level with more than 15 overs remaining, when Randiv overstepped. Sehwag smashed the delivery for six but the shot did not count because the match ended once the umpire called the no-ball.

The day after the match Sri Lanka's board launched the inquiry into whether Randiv had, on the urging of Dilshan, deliberately overstepped. After discovering the no-ball was deliberate, the board meted out the punishments - and reminded captain Kumar Sangakkara of his responsibility to ''ensure repetition of such incidents do not occur''.

Sehwag had earlier used his Twitter account to reveal Randiv had apologised for bowling the no-ball.

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Poor batting cost us the Test - Sangakkara

Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara has admitted that poor batting on the fourth day cost his team the third and final Test against India at the P Sara Oval.

"On the fourth morning I thought in the first session if we had just tried to bat till lunch the ball would have got softer and we could have scored a lot more runs. But unfortunately, we played some poor strokes," Sangakkara said. "We were a bit too tentative at times and the batting in the second innings by the seven batsmen, except for Thilan (Samaraweera) was probably the main cause for us getting only 267. Otherwise we could have batted out the day and put the heavy roller on today and declared.

"We had a couple of chances today with Sachin (Tendulkar) and Suresh Raina. That would have made the match a lot more interesting. But the way they batted was excellent. They played positively and kept scoring runs. Unfortunately, apart from Suraj (Randiv) and Lasith (Malinga) we weren't able to exert pressure from the other end, either to take wickets or cut down the runs."

Sangakkara stated he would have liked to have got close to 300 but added that, "given the situation we were in, it was a great effort by Ajantha (Mendis) and Thilan to get us to 267. Again you know a few chances went begging, which would have allowed us to get another 50 runs lead in the first innings.

"Unfortunately, it's been like that in the last two Tests. A few chances here and there and they ended up crucial."

Sangakkara pointed out the dropped catch by Tillakaratne Dilshan off Sachin Tendulkar as one of those key chances.

"It would have been nice to get Sachin out with something like 110 runs to play with, 120 runs at that time. Those things happen in cricket, no one wants to miss a catch at this level when you are playing with so much at stake. The chances we put down in this Test and the last one, proved to be crucial and costly. We have to make sure it doesn't happen again," he said.

As far the bowlers were concerned, he praised the bowling effort of Randiv who took five wickets in the Indian second innings and nine in the match.

"Suraj's greatest asset has been his confidence and self belief. He's got great bounce and he will have to improve on his control a bit more to ensure he keeps building the pressure with dot balls and wicket-taking balls. Once he gets that done, I think he will be even better than what we see him now as."

Sangakkara denied that the defeat had given India a moral victory. "Not really, one all is one all. It's neither here nor there. I thought right throughout the Test we took more wickets and scored more runs. We created a lot more opportunities as well. But converting those opportunities in these two Tests wasn't there. It was the only window India had to come back into this series." 

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Malinga savours joining 100-wicket club

Sri Lankan fast bowler Lasith Malinga has said that he is honoured to join Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas as the only three Sri Lankan bowlers to take 100 Test wickets after he reached the milestone during the third day's play at the P Sara Oval.

His landmark wicket was that of the greatest run-getter in Test cricket, Sachin Tendulkar, whom he had caught behind for 41. Malinga later went on to dismiss the Indian captain MS Dhoni to finish with figures of 3 for 119.

"I was keen to get wickets in Test matches but I was injured and couldn't play Test cricket for nearly three years," Malinga said. "I came into this series with 92 wickets from 28 Tests and I am extremely happy with my effort to capture my 100 wickets in my 30th Test."

After taking a five-wicket haul in the first Test in Galle, Malinga said he was actually rested for the second game at the SSC as a precautionary measure.

"Normally when a bowler comes back from an injury he plays a few three or four-day games before playing in a Test match. I played in ODIs and Twenty20s but I was confident I could go through a five-day Test match and that is why I played at Galle," Malinga said. "Because I was playing five-day cricket after a long time I found that I had strained my body and was not fit so I took rest in the second Test and came back to play in the third."

Malinga stated that he could be a more effective bowler if he got good support from the other end. "But unfortunately Chanaka Welegedara didn't have a good game in the Indian first innings, but that does not mean he is a bad bowler. He can always come back and get wickets in the second innings. He is a good bowler.

"I bowl as many wicket-taking balls. If I think I can get a wicket with a bouncer I will bowl it. I thought bowling bouncers at the Indian batsmen was the best thing to do so I used the short ball a little bit more than usual."

Malinga said that a target of 275 in the fourth innings could be a challenging one for India.

"We have batsmen who can play according to the situation and have made runs even on bad wickets. If we bat the whole day tomorrow we can set India a target and put them under pressure," Malinga said. "Suraj Randiv and Ajantha Mendis are getting the ball to turn and they will be effective on a turning wicket and pose a real challenge to the Indian batsmen. I think it will turn out to be an interesting contest on the final day." 

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Unsung Samaraweera anchors Sri Lanka

Thilan Samaraweera's record, his average of 53.34, is often seen with an asterisk next to it. Only one of his 12 centuries has been scored out of the subcontinent. He usually seems to be one of three or four centurions in an innings. Except for the centuries in Faisalabad when he came in at 9 for 3, and at Queen's Park Oval when he scored a second-innings 125 from 35 for 4, Samaraweera is usually perceived to be one who capitalises on bowlers tired down by Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene or blasted by Tillakaratne Dilshan.

Some even call Samaraweera a boring batsman. While it is unfair to call Samaraweera boring, that defining innings is indeed missing. This unbeaten 137 was not that innings, but it was halfway there. And despite a strike-rate of 47.56, which is considered slow in today's cricket, this wasn't boring. The way he handled the spinners on a responsive pitch was anything but.

This wasn't an easy century. It came when, for the first time on this tour, no Sri Lankan batsman had dominated the Indian bowlers enough. Sangakkara had, but he threw it away without finishing the job. The pitch was taking turn when Samaraweera came in at 157 for 3, Pragyan Ojha was bowling a good spell, and Jayawardene wasn't exactly comfortable. So he had to contend with bowlers who had their best first day of the tour, bowlers who for the first time sensed they could keep an innings century-less.

Jayawardene soon got out, and Samaraweera, almost unnoticed, reached his fifty by stumps. Ojha said after the day's play that he was getting appreciable turn, and if the batsmen pushed forward blindly he thought he had a chance. Samaraweera doesn't push forward blindly. Although his first movement is forward, but he is adept at moving back swiftly or reaching the pitch of the ball to play either a defensive or a forceful stroke.

Samaraweera hardly ever misjudged the length, and when he did his soft hands ensured the edge didn't carry. His comfort at the crease contrasted with that shown by Angelo Mathews and Prasanna Jayawardene.

Ojha was difficult to negotiate in a 13-over spell of 19 runs and two wickets before lunch. The tail was in. Samaraweera shielded them after Suraj Randiv got out slog-sweeping and Lasith Malinga didn't stay long enough to be shielded. With Mendis, who is not one who can be expected to hold one end up, Samaraweera's partnership lasted 13.4 overs, adding 35 crucial runs, out of which Mendis scored 3.

"The thought process then was that I had to bat through Ojha," Samaraweera said. "Mendis told me he was a little difficult to handle, that was the reason [for refusing singles]."

While Samaraweera kept refusing singles, his lack of power showed. He was buying time, but not actually hurting India. Gaps existed, but for across-the-line shots. Samaraweera, though, relied on the more orthodox ones, making room and cutting late, and exploiting the square field. He punished any slight error in length. He managed a slog-sweep off Amit Mishra, and couple of chips over extra cover off Ojha, but immediately after Mendis and Chanaka Welegedara got out in the same over.

By then Samaraweera had taken Sri Lanka to a healthy total. "I have got some hundreds at crucial moments," Samaraweera said. "When top order has not scored runs. Against Pakistan we were 9 for 3, I got a hundred and against Bangladesh we were 20 for 4. I don't think I have got [all the] runs when the top order has scored runs. I have scored runs when they were important for the team. But this is a special one because this is a real Test wicket. Your skills are tested here unlike in SSC. I am happy to get a hundred here."

It wasn't an innings that grabbed you by the throat and asked you to watch. It wasn't one that came in a dire situation. But it came at a time when it could have all gone wrong for Sri Lanka. It came on a pitch where it wasn't difficult to look unattractive. Neither happened. Sri Lanka can thank Samaraweera for that. 

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World Cup venue to be named after Muralitharan

A new cricket stadium being built for next year's World Cup will be named after the world's most successful bowler Muttiah Muralitharan, a report said on Friday.

The 22,000-capacity stadium, being constructed in Pallekele in Muralitharan's home district of Kandy, is due to host three matches of the World Cup in South Asia in February-March.

The Central Provincial Council in Kandy decided to name the venue as the Muttiah Muralitharan International Cricket Stadium to honour the recently retired spinner, the Daily Mirror said.

The move had the backing of the provincial governor, Tikiri Kobbekaduwa, and will be put to Sri Lanka Cricket shortly, the newspaper said.

Muralitharan, 38, quit Test cricket last week after reaching the unprecedented 800-wicket mark during the first Test against India in Galle.

He is also the leading wicket-taker in one-day cricket with 515 scalps and said he will be available for the World Cup if needed.

The matches in Pallekele are Pakistan v New Zealand on March 8, Sri Lanka v Zimbabwe on March 10 and Pakistan v Zimbabwe on March 14.

Sri Lanka, which co-hosts the showpiece tournament with India and Bangladesh, is due to organise 12 matches at three venues.

The other venues are the under-renovation Premadasa stadium in Colombo and a new cricket facility being built in Hambantota in the island's south. 

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Randiv revels in maiden wicket

Test debutant Suraj Randiv was ecstatic after getting his first wicket, that of Virender Sehwag, with a doosra. "Sehwag was on 99 at that time. I thought he might go for a big shot and I thought of bowling a doosra at him. It worked and I got his wicket," said Randiv who ended the third day of the second Test with figures of 2 for 108. "When you get a player of his calibre it's a big thing. It's a privilege. I just came onto bowl and I thought he will do something different. Our bowlers hadn't given him any easy runs at that stage."

Sehwag had said after the day's play that he had spotted Randiv's doosra, but decided to attempt the big hit anyway. "I bowl the doosra but like Murali it doesn't go the other way a lot," Randiv said. "But I got some bounce and some help (today)," he said.

Randiv said that he was a bit nervous playing in his first Test. "However, with confidence that goes away. I had an opportunity to bowl a lot and it just went away. I guess any player will be nervous."

Randiv stated that there was more help for the spinners on the wicket than for the fast bowlers. "There was a lot of bounce on the track but it was a bit slow." He said that he was not overawed by the reputation of the Indian batting line-up. "I was just thinking of bowling my line and length. I got a bit of bounce with my action. It was very difficult to bowl a good line and length to Sachin [Tendulkar]. He comes forward and he goes back. It is very difficult to get a correct line and length to him. I think I bowled well to him.

He said there was still a lot of hard work ahead for Sri Lanka in the Test. "We need to stop the runs. We need to work hard. The pitch is good and it is very hard to get wickets. We have to be disciplined." 

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Muralitharan hits back at Bishan Bedi

Retired spin great Muttiah Muralitharan lashed out at his long-time detractor Bishan Singh Bedi, calling the former Indian captain a controversy monger and an ordinary bowler who would have been hammered by any batsman if was he playing now.

Bedi has been an untiring critic of Muralitharan by repeatedly calling the Sri Lankan a "chucker" and asking the ICC to ban the Sri Lankan's "doosra" as it was illegal.

Muralitharan, who retired last week after completing 800 Test wickets at Galle against India, made an uncharacteristic attack on Bedi.

Asked about the lack of world-class spinners in India, except for Harbhajan Singh, Muralitharan said Bedi was not in the league B S Chandrasekhar, Srinivas Venkataraghavan and Erapalli Prasanna.

"Bedi, I don't think he does not even come to a contest on that. I saw some bowling of his playing days. In the modern era, if he plays he will get hammered every ball, that is what will happen. So no comparison," the world's most successful spinner told PTI in an interview.

"Prasanna is a good bowler. I have seen his bowling. Venkataraghavan is good. But Bedi does not come under it," he said.

Murali did not mention explicitly the constant criticism he had suffered at the hands of Bedi, but advised the the former spinner to refrain from whipping up controversies.

"He (Bedi) is also a controversial person. He has lot of controversies everywhere in the world. And he should think about himself first rather than talking about other people," Muralitharan said.

Asked about Bedi's comments on banning the 'doosra' from international cricket, Muralitharan derided Bedi, saying that since he (Bedi) had no variations in his bowling he was critical of others.

"He (Bedi) did not have any variation. He just bowled left arm spin and the pitch did the variations for him. That is what he bowled," he said.

Muralitharan said Anil Kumble was the best spinner India has produced and records speak for themselves.

"You forget the best spinner is Anil Kumble. Not Bedi or Venkataraghavan or any other. I think the best ever spinner produced (in India) is Kumble. No doubt about it and nobody can doubt it. Statistics-wise and on the basis of other things, he is far ahead than other guys", he said.

Muralitharan refused to compare Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara, but said that on the basis of statistics, the Indian maestro was ahead of any other batsman.

"Sachin and Lara have been the most consistent batsmen in the world (to face my bowling). I admire them. I have most regards for those two guys and now place Ricky Ponting also in that list.

"I don't know who plays me the better. They are different individuals. Statistics-wise Sachin is heading the pack. You can say Sachin is the best on that basis. But you see the other two players are great players, they are also legends. I think you cannot make comparisons. They play in different conditions and situation," he said.

Muralitharan said he has no regrets in his cricketing career, even though controversies over his action followed him throughout.

"It (controversy) did not haunt me at all. I went through it and I have done what I wanted to do in my cricketing life. So no regrets. Nothing. I am very happy to retire (from Test cricket)," he said.

On the volume of cricket with the Twenty20 explosion, Murali did not feel it had contributed to players getting more injuries.

"I don't think so. If a player is fit to play he should play every format. The players' careers are very short, they enjoy all form of the game. So the three forms of cricket will continue though Tests are the ultimate," he said.

Muralitharan said it would be difficult for India to come back into the three-match series against Sri Lanka as they have little chance to win the second Test.

"Sri Lanka is too strong at the moment. They are playing really well and the batsmen are getting lot of runs. It could be difficult to get a result in this match unless Sri Lanka wins. India cannot win this Test match. Unless something unpredictable happens," he said.

Murali also said that the Australians were not in a terminal decline, and were still a force to reckon with.

"Very difficult to say Australia have declined. They may decline for about a year, six months, five months. Then they can come back. So you can't say they are a bad side. They are a very good side," he said.

"Statistically, they were performing brilliantly during the last decade. Now they missed players like Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath ... Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer to open. So the youngsters will have to come and fill the void. It took a little bit of time for them," he added. 

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Much depends on the third M

M&M has been the theme of India's last two tours of Sri Lanka. In 2008 it was Murali and Mendis, in 2010's first Test India were demolished by Murali and Malinga. By the second Test of the series, one of the Ms has retired, the other has broken down.

Thankfully for Sri Lanka, it doesn't seem to be a serious injury. Not enough, it seems, to make the fast bowler wonder whether coming back to Test cricket was the right move. "It is just some stiffness in the knee," Champaka Ramanayake, the bowling coach, said, "Nothing to do with the old injury. If all goes right he should be back by the third Test."

The selectors have a tough choice to make with Malinga. "After what he has gone through - people thought that he might not be able to play cricket again, some even thought he might not be able to walk - when you come out of that state, you have to respect what his body is saying," said Ranjit Fernando, one of the national selectors. "And that's what we are doing because we can't take one day at a time. We have to look at the World Cup. He is going to play a very important role during the World Cup.

"So that's where it stands right now. If he says that he is ready by the time the third Test comes and also if the physio certifies it, he may feature in the third Test. We have no clue as to how a body is behaving, so we have to look up to people who know it the best."

Until he does come back, the third M, Ajantha Mendis, who himself is making a comeback after a rather indifferent second year in Test cricket, has a big job to do. If his debut was hugely anticipated, this comeback will also be keenly watched. Not the least because he will be the only man in the attack with an average under 30. Or because he has been treated rather shabbily by the Indian and Pakistani batsmen after that magical debut series.

Saman Hervavitharana, Mendis' first coach, at Army Sports Club, believes technical flaws had crept into Mendis' bowling over the last two years. He had started rushing through his run-up, and more importantly he had stopped getting close enough to the stumps while delivering. That, Hervavitharana says, took away his accuracy and made the variations less effective.

On his comeback trail, a few days after being left out of the squad for the first Test, Mendis did make an emphatic statement. He took 6 for 67 in the tour game against the Indians, including the wickets of Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and Gautam Gambhir. He was lucky to get Tendulkar out lbw, but he had also managed to beat him with a carrom ball. He troubled Laxman for a longer period before getting his wicket.

Hervavitharana didn't see the tour game, but believes Mendis is bowling better. "A bit better, but not at his best." He hasn't worked with Mendis, who is with the national team, much of late, though Mendis called him today before going for his first net session back with the national team.

Mendis will know that with all the technical analysis of his bowling, given the flat pitch at the SSC and the inexperience of the whole attack, "a bit better" might not be enough. 

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Is Murali the greatest spinner ever?

Normal people don't think about sportsmen, they watch them. The thinking comes later, it's a second-order pleasure. There are those of us who add Virender Sehwag's latest score to his aggregate and divide by the number of innings played (minus the not-outs) to work out how many decimal points his career average has risen, but we do this in secret because we know that it is, like picking one's nose, a furtive pleasure that not everyone is likely to understand. To understand Muttiah Muralitharan, to appreciate what he means to cricket, we should begin, not with his statistics, but his Presence.

The difference between the great and the very good is that the great ones have an aura. Sometimes, first-rate players are undervalued because they lack that je ne sais quoi. Among batsmen, Ken Barrington, Dilip Vengsarkar, Andy Flower, Jacques Kallis, even Rahul Dravid, come to mind as extraordinary players who aren't given their due because of a certain anonymity, whereas Viv Richards, Sunil Gavaskar, Javed Miandad, Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar, Sehwag, even Mahendra Singh Dhoni, walk the field swaddled in an aura that magnifies them and their doings. Among contemporary bowlers, Anil Kumble suffers most in this area, forever typed as a dogged striver, a wonderful senior pro, but not a Master of the Universe, whereas Imran Khan's cricketing record is lacquered into immortality by his charisma. Glenn McGrath, without question the most dangerous bowler of the modern era, doesn't get his due because his sour glower - either natural or cultivated - and the mean parsimony of his manner make him hard to like or even admire.

Murali lucked out in the business of Presence. He is naturally theatrical, a television camera's delight. That bobbing run-up, the whiplash speed of his arm action, the helicopter wrist, the eyes huge with effort at the point of release, the conspiratorial smile at his team-mates as he returns to his bowling mark, the radiant joy in playing and competing, reach out to the spectator and draw him in. Murali lacks Shane Warne's confidence that every ball bowled might have taken a wicket but for the obtuseness of umpires, or the fiendish luck of batsmen; nor does his body language assert, as Warne's does, that he has an answer to every problem. Sri Lanka have lost too many matches, and Murali lived through too many ambushes, for that kind of swagger. To the spectator, Warne's minimalist, impassive walk-up implies magic; Murali's animation suggests electricity.

Cricket's history man

As a bowler, Murali's standing in world cricket is unique for several reasons.

One, not only is he the greatest offspinner the game has seen, he is an original. He's the first wrist-spinning offbreak bowler in the history of cricket. Before Murali, offbreaks were finger-spun; Murali's huge offbreaks are spun from the wrist. Setting aside the controversy about the legality of his action, he has pioneered a new tradition of spin bowling, and his most outstanding disciple is Harbhajan Singh. Two, while he didn't invent the doosra, the offspinner's googly (the credit for that belongs to Saqlain Mushtaq), he certainly perfected it. A delivery that might have gone down in cricket history as a freak ball that died with its inventor, is now an established part of the offspinner's armoury. Along with reverse swing, the doosra is the most radical extension of the bowler's art in modern cricket, and Murali is its maestro.

Three, Murali is the most important cricketer in the game today, because his career and its attendant controversies have changed the laws of cricket and subverted a century and more of cricketing common sense.

When Murali was called for throwing by Darrell Hair, he was already a Test-playing veteran. At the time it seemed as if the career of a potentially great spin bowler was on the line. To be fair to the umpire, it was a reasonable call to make. To most cricketers and spectators there was something strange and spasmodic about Murali's action. Yes, Murali hadn't been called in all the Tests he had played till then, and yes, Brett Lee's action had an obvious kink and he wasn't called, but being inconsistent is not the same as being wrong. Arjuna Ranatunga's magnificent brinkmanship, Australian insensitivity, and the ICC's subsequent fumbling with the definition of a fair delivery made sure that the issue became politicised, with Murali cast as villain or martyr, depending on affiliation. Looking back, though, given the laws of cricket as they then stood, Hair was within his rights to call Murali for chucking because to the naked eye Murali's arm did appear to bend and straighten.

The sports scientists called in to adjudicate the matter determined that the bending and straightening was an optical illusion caused by the rotation of Murali's congenitally crooked arm. This failed to satisfy the doubters and Murali was reported several times afterwards. On each occasion the scientists found in his favour till finally, a comprehensive survey of contemporary bowling actions established a paradoxical and ironical fact: not only was the manifest illegality of Murali's action an optical illusion, the taken-for-granted legality of the actions of the world's bowlers was an optical illusion too! Put simply, the scientists found that nearly every bowler in the world bent and straightened his arm, including never suspected paragons of bowling virtue like McGrath and Jason Gillespie. Hostile critics of Murali, like Michael Holding and Ian Botham, turned on a dime and accepted without a murmur the new definition of a legal delivery, which allowed all bowlers to flex their arms up to 15 degrees.

There the matter rests. As things stand, what started as a controversy about an individual's bowling action has ended by calling into question the traditional wisdom about every bowler in cricket's history. If all contemporary bowlers flex their arms, then it follows that nearly all bowlers in the past did so too, except that we lacked the technology to capture the flexion. If McGrath chucks according to the old definition, then so did Harold Larwood and Ray Lindwall and Fred Trueman and Wes Hall. In which case, why was poor Ian Meckiff's career cut short when Shoaib Akhtar and Brett Lee are given the benefit of the doubt? Why did Tony Lock have to change his jerky bowling action and geld his fast left-arm spinners when Harbhajan is allowed the cover of 15 degrees? Having appealed to science, the ICC is now bound to accept its verdict, but even those of us who support Murali's vindication should acknowledge that cricket has at one stroke repudiated a large part of its common sense and rewritten its past. This is a huge step for a game that otherwise sets store by tradition. Worse, it has done this without solving the problem: players like Harbhajan are reported and cleared over and over again and on-field umpires are forbidden from calling bowlers for chucking. Murali's vindication has, unavoidably, been achieved by fudging the Laws of cricket in a way that makes them unenforceable.

The other one

But this is the ICC's problem, not Murali's. As far as he is concerned, the charge of chucking has been conclusively laid to rest, which makes it possible to discuss Murali's place in the history of spin bowling without being haunted by the spectre of illegality. This essentially means comparing Murali with Warne, because otherwise it would be a very brief discussion. Warne apart, there is no one who approaches the weight of Murali's achievement. A quick glance at Murali's five-wicket- and 10-wicket hauls, his strike-rate, his average runs per wicket and wickets per Test, will make it evident that, with the antique exception of Syd Barnes, there's no other slow bowler who can sustain the comparison.

The other reason to make the comparison is that the two of them are intensely aware of each other and posterity. Warne, in particular, is not above implying that Murali's figures are bulked out by wickets taken cheaply against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. Murali doesn't reply in kind but he has his champions. Ranatunga rose to the defence of his great bowler, calling Warne overrated, deriding him as a bowler who had built his reputation against sides like England who are notoriously inept at playing spin bowling. Against the best players of spin, the Indians, said Ranatunga, twisting the knife, Warne's figures were embarrassing.

So who is the greater bowler? There are those who will point to the fact that Murali has taken more top-order wickets than Warne. There are others who will argue that the only reason this is true is that Murali is a one-man band and gets more opportunities against the top order whereas Warne comes on after McGrath and company have decapitated the opposition. Murali has had home advantage more often than Warne - is that to count against him? On the other hand Warne has the advantage of McGrath as a kind of siege engine, making the breech for him to surge through - so does that make Murali's achievement more considerable?

The truth is that this race between Murali and Warne is the closest thing to a dead heat that you're likely to get in cricket. There's nothing in it statistically. As for the other arguments, Warne can't be praised or blamed for being part of a great Australian team any more than Murali can be awarded brownie points or black marks for playing a lone hand.

Symbol, mascot, lightning rod

If we step back and view the two in the round, not just as cricketers but as representative types, Muralitharan is much the more interesting figure. Warne belongs to the space where Australian laddishness meets modern celebrity. In his adventures with drugs, women and bookmakers, Warne lives the tabloid life. He represents himself, or the amalgam that makes up the modern individual: ability and appetite. He is justly celebrated for both. Muralitharan, famous as he is, carries a weight Warne has been spared - the burden of representation. Murali represents a divided, polarised nation. As a Tamil in Sri Lanka, he is a symbol, whether he likes it or not, of a minority community. Descended from Indian Tamils who migrated to Sri Lanka's plantations a few generations ago, he has been personally touched by Sri Lanka's sectarian violence: his family was attacked by gangs of Sinhalas in the anti-Tamil pogroms of the early 1980s. Given that there is a civil war in progress between Tamil separatists in northern Sri Lanka and the government of that country, Murali's presence in the Sri Lankan cricket team is automatically charged with symbolic meaning.

For his articulate team-mate Kumar Sangakkara, Murali is a symbol of reconciliation and peace: "For Murali, caste, class, ethnicity or faith is irrelevant - we are all equals. His life - the exploits on the field, his resilience in the face of intense provocation, his natural kindness and generosity, his remarkable charity work with The Foundation of Goodness - evokes a powerful spirit of reconciliation for a polarised nation.

"He has taken much from the game of cricket, but he has given back so much to our society. More than any other public figure in Sri Lanka, he stands apart, a source of joy on the cricket field, an example to us all and an answer to the ethnic conundrum we face in Sri Lanka." But as anyone familiar with the history of sectarian conflict in South Asia knows, Murali could just as easily have been stigmatised as a Tamil mascot used by the Sri Lankan state to disguise its Sinhala chauvinism. That he isn't so regarded is a tribute both to Murali and to the solidarity and affection shown him by his team-mates.

Murali has lived most of his cricketing life dealing with the consequences of being both a symbol and a lightning rod for forces larger than him. He has symbolised the Tamil in Sri Lanka, he has been Sri Lanka's champion in the lists of world cricket, he has even been the unwilling focus of lazy attempts to explain the rifts in world cricket in terms of race and colour. He has transcended these attempts to co-opt him by being true to his genius and by playing the game year after year with undiminished pleasure.

As an Indian fan who believes that Indian batsmen define the gold standard when it comes to playing spinners, I'll get off the fence if pushed and declare myself for Murali. Warne is a wonderful bowler but I've never seen him reduce an Indian batting line-up. Murali's record against India, like Warne's, is markedly less impressive than his overall figures. But the last time Sri Lanka toured India, his bowling at the Feroz Shah Kotla was a revelation. He went round the wicket to the Indians and in one virtuoso spell had them groping, reduced to reading him off the pitch because they couldn't tell the doosra from the hand, beating the outside edge over and over again, his wrong 'un spitting and turning like a legbreak. It was breath-taking. He took 5 for 23 in one inspired spell, destroying the Indian top order. Sri Lanka lost that game, but given the quality of the opposition, his 7 for 100 bettered his 8 for 70 against England when he spun Sri Lanka to victory at Trent Bridge in June this year. At Trent Bridge, Murali conquered the clueless - even Warne's done that. At Kotla, he bamboozled the best.

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Murali an outstanding servant to cricket - Warne

I think Murali has got to the stage where that hunger and enjoyment has started to wane a bit, the body sometimes tells you it's time to give up. But he's been an outstanding servant to the game of cricket, and what he's been able to achieve for Sri Lanka has been a real credit to his country and to himself.

He's always had a smile on his face, even when he's had to live through the doubters, because there will always be those people who say 'did he, didn't he?' All those sorts of things will remain, but he's handled himself extremely well, and congratulations to him. Now that he's retired, I might have to come out of retirement, just to try to beat his record again.

When you're an international cricketer and you play for a long time, there are always going to be things that come up that you're going to have to deal with. I suppose in Murali's case, he had such an unusual action that there's always going to be that doubt with some people, others have no doubts. But that's always been the case with Murali and it's just a fact of life. If he had a normal action he wouldn't have been talked about - that only happens when you're different. People will make their own mind up, but I thought he was wonderful for the game.

Of course I regard him as a friend. I've known him a long while and our rivalry was always healthy. If you look at the great batsmen in world cricket, some people say Sachin Tendulkar's the best, like I do, and some people say Brian Lara. Myself and Murali were like that at the top as bowlers in the last 10 years. All the opinions are really up to the individual.

Statistics are great to have, but I think it's also about the way you got your wickets. Did they help you to win the match for your team? Were you entertaining? All those things go into the mix when you are making a decision. It's like anything, you collect information, and try to make an informed decision, but for me he was great for the game and always fun to face.

I suppose we went through the 1980s with the dominance of the fast bowlers, then along came myself and Anil Kumble, and Murali, and Saqlain Mushtaq, and Mushtaq Ahmed. There were half a dozen spinners in that mid-1990s period when you knew that whoever you were facing, you were going to be tested by a decent spinner, if not two. It was skilful bowling that asked a lot of questions of the batters, but I suppose we might see it go the other way now, and have more fast bowlers because these things always go in cycles.

But some of the current day spinners are doing exceptionally well. Graeme Swann is probably the most improved cricketer in the world, he's come on a lot, and I really think he'll help England. He's that extra little bow that England needed, their spinner can bowl on day one or day five, he's got a bit of flair and he's adaptable. I like the way he goes about it.

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Galle Test to be Muralitharan's last

Muttiah Muralitharan, the leading wicket-taker in Tests and ODIs, will retire from Test cricket after the first Test against India in Galle, which begins on July 18. While he will not play the subsequent tri-series, and will pick and choose which ODIs to play in, Murali will be available for selection if the team needs him for the 2011 World Cup, which Sri Lanka is co-hosting.

Cricinfo has learnt that Murali met Aravinda de Silva, the chairman of selectors, and captain Kumar Sangakkara over the weekend to discuss his future. He was asked to consider playing the full series against India, but he was unsure about being at his best if bowled heavily throughout the series.

"Murali has been thinking for some time about the right time to go," a source close to the offspinner told Cricinfo. "All along he has been determined to go while he is still performing rather than just hanging on. He made the decision last week after the Asia Cup and met with the selectors and captain over the weekend to explain to them his position. He is really keen to play on to the World Cup but at the same time he does not want to stand in the way of younger talent. So he will see how things go over the next few months."

Kushil Gunasekara, Murali's manager, said the unscheduled Test series against India had made Murali fast track his decision to retire. "The selectors want Murali to be around just in case they don't find a suitable replacement for him for the 2011 World Cup," he said. "They probably want the spinners to work around Murali."

Murali also considered a stint in county cricket, playing for Surrey, but that is unlikely because Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) doesn't want him to play too much cricket before the World Cup. Cricinfo also learnt that the selectors and management have privately communicated their desire for him to play on until the World Cup, counting on his experience in the big tournament.

About a year ago, Murali had announced he would retire after the home series against West Indies late this year, but in last November he said he could advance the Test retirement. "I am 37 years old and I can't bowl as much as those days because I get tired after 15-16 overs," he had told Cricinfo then. "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."

Murali has taken 792 wickets in 132 Tests and 515 wickets in 337 ODIs. Galle will be an interesting shot at retiring with 800 Test wickets.

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Murali may quit before 2011 World Cup

Muttiah Muralitharan, the Sri Lankan spinner, has said he may quit international cricket before the 2011 World Cup in the subcontinent.

Murali, on his fourth tour to India, his final overseas tour, is struggling to come to terms with the placid Indian pitches and a strong batting line-up which has treated him harshly in the series so far. In the second Test, in Kanpur, he went for over 100 runs for the second time in two Tests in the series, and so far his five wickets have cost him 396 runs, at an average of 79.20.

"I am 37 years old and I can't bowl as much as those days because I get tired after 15-16 overs. 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," Murali said. "Everything depends on how much my body can take. In Test cricket it's a little bit harder because I have always been a threat to other sides [but] at the moment it's not looking like that because others are playing me well. I think I made the right decision to retire from Test cricket at the end of the West Indies series next year.

"Two to three years ago it was not like this. Now you have niggles here and there and my groin is not the same as it used to be. We got the worst bowling conditions in the last two Tests. We didn't have the bowlers, that was one of the factors. But that's the way cricket goes, everything won't work in your favour."

Sri Lanka are struggling in the series because Murali has not been able to give them the breakthroughs he usually does. "I've played only eight Tests this year: two against Bangladesh, two against Pakistan, and two against New Zealand when I really did well bowling in the second innings of the second Test with a groin injury," he said. "Whenever the side wanted a breakthrough I got it for them in the New Zealand series. I don't know why it's not happening here.

"You have to give credit to India also for playing well. Whatever we were expecting didn't happen. Even the spinners didn't do well in any Test because everyone was not up to the mark and the wicket was not assisting them."

Sri Lanka are yet to win a Test in India, but Murali said that he won't be too disappointed if he had to return home without a Test victory in India. "Every cricketer has to go through disappointments. Everything you want to happen in life won't happen; something will be missing. Looking back I can say what an amazing career I have gone through but if we can't win in India that's it. Life has to go on."

Already the leading wicket-taker in Tests, he needs 12 more wickets in a possible three Tests to reach 800, but he said he was not targetting personal milestones. "I am not really focussing on finishing off my career taking 800 Test wickets. My focus is on winning matches. I don't believe in numbers. Eight hundred is just a number everyone will forget once you retire. It's a number to have in your mind. It is good if I get it but if I don't, still I will be happy and go out knowing I had a great career."

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Sanath is an important player: Sangakkara

Maintaining that Jayasuriya was very much in the reckoning for the 2011 World Cup, Sangakkara said the team was waiting to see how he performs in his new role on this tour.

"Sanath has been wonderful he's always been positive accepting of the decisions made about him and supporting those ideas. We are going to wait and see how Sanath comes out from this tour. He's a very important player for us going towards the next World Cup," he added.

Sangakkara warned that no excuses like in the past about the food in India or conditions would be tolerated.

"Complaints are negative things and excuses. No matter what happens on field if you focus too much on negative things it's not good for anyone," he said.

Sangakkara said if Lanka were to become competitive away from home they need to toughen up mentally.

"Sometimes they are too pampered and spoilt to accept things not going our way. We have to change attitude. If you want to compete well anywhere in the world you need to become mentally tougher. This (tour) is a start," he said.

"If we can all play our cricket fair and hard and commit to give 100 per cent we don't need these complaints and excuses. We have to enjoy India as a country, enjoy the tour as individuals and as a team," he added.
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Murali joins Victoria to play Oz T20 games

Melbourne: Muttiah Muralitharan, the leading wicket taker in international cricket, is to join Victoria for the upcoming Australian domestic Twenty20 competition.

Cricket Victoria chief executive Tony Dodemaide announced the signing Wednesday, saying the Sri Lankan spin great would join West Indies allrounder Dwayne Bravo as the Bushrangers' international players for the interstate T20 league.

"Murali is without peer in terms of current spinners in world cricket and a true legend of the game," Dodemaide said in a statement. "He holds records for the most wickets in both Test and one-day cricket and has an impressive record in Twenty20s as well, capable of match-turning spells and conceding less than 6 runs an over on average - a remarkable performance in this frenetic new format."

Victoria was also home to Australia's leading spinner Shane Warne who retired from Test cricket in 2006-07 as the leading wicket taker with 708 dismissals — a mark Muralitharan passed in December, 2007.

Muralitharan, who was no-balled for chucking at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 2005, and had regularly been subjected to barracking by Australian fans, was eager to experience being a crowd favorite at the 100,000-capacity ground.

"What a thrill it will be to play in front of a 'home' crowd at the mighty MCG," he said in a statement. "It's an exciting prospect and a great honor, and I look forward to playing my part in the Bushrangers' team and hopefully entertaining Victorian and Australian fans."

The trophy for the Australia-Sri Lanka Test series is named after both of the great spin bowlers, something Muralitharan noted ahead of the signing.

"Shane Warne and I share the honour of having a trophy that bears our names, and I'm delighted to be following in his footsteps as a Victorian spinner."

Australia's six state teams are each allowed two international players for the Dec. 28-Jan. 23 T20 competition. The two finalists in the competition qualify for the Champions League, which features the leading T20 provincial teams from around the world.

Victoria and New South Wales qualified for the inaugural Champions League, which will be held in India in October.

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Yet another world record for Murali

Sri Lankan spin legend Muttiah Muralitharan today surpassed Australia's Shane Warne in creating a new world record by bowling the highest number of maiden overs in Test cricket.

Muralitharan, playing in his 128th Test currently underway against the New Zealand, overtook Warne's record by bowling his 1752nd maiden over at the Galle Stadium. Warne has bowled 1751 maidens in his 145-Test career.

Muralitharan set up the record when he bowled the 79th over of the first innings during the first Test for a maiden.

It was the 27th over of Murali and the batsman on the crease against whom the deliveries were bolwed was all-rounder Jacob Oram.

Muralitharan is the highest wicket-taker in both Tests and in ODIs. He took the wicket of Gautham Gambhir in February this year in Colombo, to surpass Wasim Akram's ODI record of 502 wickets.

The 37-year-old Muralitharan became the highest wicket-taker in Test cricket when he overtook the previous record-holder Shane Warne in December 2007.

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