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Deshabandu Muttiah Muralitharan (Tamil: muttaiyaa murlliitrnnn, Sinhalese: muttyiyaa murlidrn; also spelt Muralidaran; born 17 April 1972) is a former Sri Lankan cricketer who was rated the greatest Test match bowler ever by Wisden Cricketers' Almanack in 2002. He retired from Test cricket in 2010, registering his 800th and final wicket on 22 July 2010 from his final ball in his last Test match. Muralitharan holds the world record for the most wickets in both test and one-day cricket.

In May 2004, Muralitharan overtook West Indian Courtney Walsh's record of 519 Test match wickets to become the highest wicket-taker. Zimbabwe's Mluleki Nkala becomes Muralitharan's 520th scalp in Tests. Muralitharan held the record until Shane Warne claimed it in October 2004. Warne surpassed Sri Lankan Muttiah Muralitharan's mark of 532 wickets by dismissing India's Irfan Pathan. Warne said he enjoyed his duel with Muralitharan, who was sidelined following shoulder surgery at the time.  After an outstanding year Muralitharan was adjudged as the Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World in 2006. In six Tests, he took 60 wickets. He took ten in each of four successive matches, the second time he performed such a feat. The opponents for his 60-wicket haul were England away, South Africa at home and New Zealand away: serious opposition. In all, Muralitharan took 90 wickets in 11 Tests in the calendar year.  In July 2007, Muttiah Muralitharan became the second bowler after Australia's Shane Warne to capture 700 Test wickets. The off-spinner reached the landmark when he had Bangladesh's last man Syed Rasel caught in the deep by Farveez Maharoof on the fourth day of the third and final Test at the Asgiriya stadium in Kandy. The dismissal signalled Sri Lanka's victory by an innings and 193 runs to give the host a 3-0 sweep of the series. Muralitharan finished with six wickets in each innings to claim 10 wickets or more in a Test for the 20th time. However, he was unable to pass Warne's record of 708 wickets when Sri Lanka toured Australia in November 2007, capturing just four wickets in two Test matches.  Muralitharan reclaimed the record for most Test wickets during the first Test against England at Kandy on 3 December 2007. The spinner bowled England's Paul Collingwood to claim his 709th Test victim and overtaking Shane Warne in the process. Muralitharan reached the mark in his 116th Test - 29 fewer than Warne - and had conceded only 21.77 runs per wicket compared to the Australian's 25.41. This was Muralitharan's 61st 5-wicket haul. Warne believed that Muralitharan would take "1,000 wickets" before he retired. Former record holder Courtney Walsh also opined that this would be possible if Muralitharan retained his hunger for wickets. Muralitharan himself believed there was a possibility that he would reach this milestone.  An aggressive lower order batsman who usually batted at No. 11, Muralitharan was known for his tendency to back away to leg and slog. Sometimes, he could be troublesome for bowlers because of his unorthodox and adventurous ways. Once, in a Test match against England, while playing Alex Tudor, he moved back towards his leg stump trying to hook the ball and ended up lying on the ground sideways after the shot. He was infamously run out in a match against New Zealand when he left his crease to congratulate Kumar Sangakkara, who had just scored a single to reach his century; the New Zealand fielder had not yet returned the ball to the wicketkeeper, so the ball was still in play. His highest Test score of 67 came against India at Kandy in 2001, including three sixes and five fours. He made valuable scores on occasion, including 30 runs against England at the Oval in 1998, including 5 fours, 38 runs (4 fours, 1 six) against England at Galle in 2003, 43 runs (5 fours, 3 sixes) against Australia at Kandy in 2004 36 runs against the West Indies at Colombo in 2005, and his highest-ever ODI score, 33 not out (4 fours and 2 sixes off 16 balls) against Bangladesh in the final of the 2009 Tri-Series in Bangladesh. In the latter match, Muralitharan's effort, which included three fours and a six off one over, played a key role in Sri Lanka winning the match and series after the first eight overs saw them reduced to 6 for 5, the lowest score ever recorded in an ODI at the fall of the fifth wicket. Muralitharan has a strike rate close to 70 in Test cricket and scored over 55% of his Test runs in fours and sixes.  Muralitharan, together with Chaminda Vaas, holds the record for the highest 10th wicket partnership in Tests for Sri Lanka. The pair put on 79 runs for the last wicket at the Asgiriya Stadium against Australia in March 2004. Muralitharan also holds the record for scoring most runs in Test cricket while batting at the number 11 position.  Muralitharan currently holds the record for the most ducks (dismissals for zero) ever in international cricket (Tests, ODI's and Twenty20), with a total of 59 ducks.  Muralitharan voiced his frustration at routinely being heckled by Australian crowds who accuse him of throwing - one common jeer directed at him was "No Ball!". Following the then Australian Prime Minister John Howard's statement that Muralitharan was a "chucker", in 2004, Muralitharan indicated that he would skip future tours to Australia.  Tom Moody, the former Sri Lanka coach and former Australian Test cricketer, said he was embarrassed by the derogatory reaction and negative attention directed towards Muttiah Muralitharan by Australian crowds. Moody stated that "As an Australian when I have been with the Sri Lankan team in Australia, or playing against them in the World Cup, it's the only situation we find in the whole of the cricketing world where we have this disgraceful slant on a cricketer".  During the 2008 CB series in Australia, some members of the Sri Lankan contingent including Muralitharan, were the target of an egg throwing incident in Hobart. The Sri Lankan cricket selector Don Anurasiri was hit by an egg, while Muralitharan and two others were verbally abused by a car-load of people as they were walking from a restaurant back to the hotel. Due to the incident taking place at night, it is unclear whether Muralitharan was indeed the target of the culprits. Even though the Australian coach of the Sri Lankan team, Trevor Bayliss, down-played the incident as "a non-event", Cricket Australia tightened security around the team. In response to this episode Muralitharan was quoted as saying "When you come to Australia, you expect such incidents".  At the conclusion of Muralitharan's test career cricket writer Rahul Bhattacharya summed up Muralitharan's trials thus: "Murali is described often as a fox. This seems right. Unlike hedgehog bowlers who pursue one big idea, Murali, like a fox, had many ways of pursuit. Like a fox he did not hunt in a pack. Like a fox he was himself cruelly hunted for sport in some parts of the world. Fox hunting was banned a few years ago in England, but is still legal in Australia."
Muttiah Muralitharan