Name:

Muralitharan, Muttiah

Nickname:

Murali

Date of Birth:

17-04-1972

Place of Birth:

Kandy

Career:

Test: 1992 - current
ODI: 1993 - current
T20: 2007 - 2010

Teams:

Sri Lanka (Country)
Chennai Super Kings (IPL)

Murali Record Breaking Action - Biomechanical Analysis

Murali: Deadly spinner, highest wicket taker of all time

Muttiah Muralitharan (born 17 April 1972 in Kandy, Sri Lanka) was rated the greatest Test match bowler ever by Wisden Cricketers' Almanack and many other pundits.

Muralitharan is the highest wicket-taker in both Test cricket and in One Day Internationals (ODIs).He took the wicket of Gautam Gambhir on 5 February 2009 in Colombo, to surpass Wasim Akram's ODI record of 502 wickets.Muralitharan became the highest wicket-taker in Test cricket when he overtook the previous record-holder Shane Warne on 3 December 2007 in the longer version of the game. Muralitharan had previously held the record when he surpassed Courtney Walsh's 519 wickets in 2004. But he suffered a shoulder injury later that year and was then overtaken by Warne.

Over a long and star studded career, Murali holds a number of world records and many firsts:

1. The most Test wickets (800 wickets as of 22 July 2010).
2. The most One-Day International wickets (515 wickets as of 22 July 2010).
3. The highest number of international wickets in Tests, ODIs and T20s combined (1320 wickets as of 22 July 2010).
4. The most 5-wicket hauls in an innings at Test level (67)
5. The most 10-wicket hauls in a match at Test level (22). He is the only player to take 10 wickets/match against every Test playing nation.
6. Fastest to 350, 400, 450, 500, 550, 600, 650, 700, 750 and 800 Test wickets, in terms of matches played (indeed the only bowler to exceed 708 wickets).
7. Only player to take 10 wickets in a Test in four consecutive matches. He has achieved this feat twice.
8. Only player to take 50 or more wickets against every Test playing nation
9. Muralitharan and Jim Laker (England), are the only bowlers to have taken 9 wickets in a Test innings twice.
10. 7 wickets in an innings against the most countries
11. Most Test wickets taken bowled stumped and caught & bowled. Bowled by Muralitharan (b Muralitharan) is the most common dismissal in Test cricket (excluding run out)
12. Most successful bowler/fielder (non-wicket keeper) combination – c. Mahela Jayawardene b. Muttiah Muralitharan (67)
13. Most Man of the Series awards in Test cricket (11).
14. One of only six bowlers who have dismissed all the eleven batsmen in a Test match. Jim Laker, Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan, Geoff Dymock, Abdul Qadir and Waqar Younis are the others.
15. Most Test wickets in a single ground. Muralitharan is the only bowler to capture 100-plus Test wickets at three venues, the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground in Colombo, the Asgiriya Stadium in Kandy and the Galle International Stadium in Galle.
16. The only bowler to take 75 or more wickets in a calendar year on three occasions, achieving it in 2000, 2001 and 2006.
17. Most ducks (dismissals for zero) ever in international cricket (Tests+ODI's+Twenty20): 59 ducks total.

Muttiah Muralitharan announced his retirement from Test cricket in the first Test Match against India in July, 2010. He retired from ODI's at the end of the 2011 World Cup which Sri Lanka co-hosted and made the final. He continued to play franchise cricket in the IPL, BBL and several other T20 leagues and has now turned to the occasional bowling coaching stint to keep his hand in the game.

Source: CricketCrowd Staff Reporter