Muttiah Muralitharan’s Historic Milestone Of 800 Test Wickets: A Record Breaking Achievement
Muttiah Muralitharan achieved a monumental feat, becoming the first bowler to reach 800 Test wickets in a historic match that saw Sri Lanka triumph by ten wickets.
Ignore the test’s outcome. It was won by Sri Lanka by ten wickets. Examine the wider picture. The magical 800 has been reached by Muttiah Muralitharan.
India 276 (Sehwag 109, Murali 5-63) and 338 (Tendulkar 84, Laxman 69, Malinga, 5-50, Murali 3-128) were defeated by Sri Lanka’s 520 for 8 dec (Paranavitana 111, Sangakkara 103) and 96 for 0 (Dilshan 68*) by ten wickets.
He was eight wickets short of reaching territory that no other cricket player possessed at the beginning of his final Test. Needing two at the start of his final day of Test cricket, he took one. He had no choice but to keep bowling and wait as his companion threatened to take everything else. He was not given a tangible LBW by the umpire.
After keeping him at bay for numerous hours, VVS Laxman ran himself out, leaving just one wicket to be taken. He waited, maybe worried a little. Twice he almost ran out of the final pair himself.
When the opportunity finally came, possibly with mounting uncertainty after 23 wicketless overs, Muttiah Muralitharan was there, where no one had gone before. The agony that preceded the previous 799 wickets was only highlighted by the protracted wait for the 800th wicket. By the way, Sri Lanka won his final Test match, too, this time defeating the opposition by 10 wickets.
The script was fiction with a hint of romance. Lasith Malinga almost prevented Murali from reaching 800. Not only did the Indian tailenders not give up, but it seemed like it may rain. But in the opening over of the day, Malinga had already dispatched MS Dhoni with a reversing outswinger, ending the actual struggle for the match.
The ball appeared to be drifting in the direction of leg, but it suddenly straightened to beat an unobservant Dhoni and smash into the stumps. Would Murali get his two wickets before Malinga removed the tail? After just three overs, Kumar Sangakkara intervened and, whether on purpose or not, withdrew Malinga from the assault.
Murali is 38 years old. The old sparkle was definitely lacking, the wrists aren’t as flexible as they once were, the shoulder hurts, and his knees groan as he turns. Nevertheless, he continued to provide miracles and received a five-for in his most recent Test. He removed Dhoni with a spectacular offbreak on the fourth day, and he made Yuvraj Singh look like a tailender twice.
He only needed to be patient today and not do anything extra. He was tempted to create something amazing, something unplayable to reach the benchmark, but he refrained from doing so. Murali continued to vary his pace and trajectory, releasing occasional doosras and offbreaks.
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Fielders pressed the bat, Murali trapped Harbhajan Singh in front, and appeals were filed. As time passed, Abhimanyu Mithun unexpectedly resisted. Malinga abstained from the assault. India went ahead. Murali switched roles. Every time Murali delivered a ball, the photographers clicked away, sprinting from end to end to get a better shot. Extreme close-ups were still being captured by television cameras.
Then it took place. Eventually, Malinga made a comeback and used an inswinging yorker to knock Mithun out. Ball after ball, Malinga was on target save for a delivery that was pushed well outside off, but Laxman and Ishant Sharma held fast. When he came back to bowl at the final pair, Pragyan Ojha and Ishant, he did the same.
It seemed appropriate. It might have appeared that Malinga was giving Murali more time when he bowled wide. It was also a little unsettling. What if Murali finished on 799 and Malinga claimed both wickets? If that happened, maybe there would be a hint of romanticism, similar to the last-inning duck that gave Bradman an average of 99.94.
Sangakkara chose the new ball, and Murali came dangerously close to fulfilling his destiny. Laxman led after a vicious break from around the stumps, but umpire Daryl Harper remained stationary. Maybe he believed it to be a leg stump missing.After lunch there was more dramatic tension-building.
And just when the onlookers started to worry that it wouldn’t arrive, it did. After Murali bowled a flighted offbreak, Ojha edged the ball to slip, where Mahela Jayawardene made his 77th catch. With a yell, Murali’s teammates lifted him up onto their shoulders, his mother and wife leaped from their seats, the crowd applauded, and fireworks burst. The world appeared to be in order.
