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| July 27, 2002 | Saturday | Jamadi-ul-Awwal 16,1423 |
Murali’s fate hangs in balance
COLOMBO, July 26: Sri Lanka have yet to decide whether to include ace off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan in their team for the second cricket Test against Bangladesh, starting here on Sunday.
The spinner was not named in the 15-man squad approved by Sports Minister Johnston Fernando Friday.
Fernando, however, was quoted in the state-run Daily News as saying there was still a chance for the bowler to be included in the team.
“Murali should be given every opportunity to better the world record for the most number of Test wickets,” he said.
Sri Lankan cricket board spokesman Niresh Eliatambi, however, told AFP the board had not been informed of Fernando’s interest in picking the star spinner.
Sri Lankan selectors are formally required to send their team selections to the sports ministry for approval, which is normally a formality.
Muralitharan equalled New Zealand fast bowler Richard Hadlee’s world mark of 36 five-wicket hauls in his team’s record victory in the first Test against Bangladesh on Tuesday.
The hosts crushed the tourists by an innings and 196 runs for their biggest win in 126 Tests.
Muralitharan, the fifth-highest wicket-taker in the world with 430, took 10 Tests fewer than Hadlee to bag 36 hauls of five or more wickets in an innings.
He finished with 10-98 for his 11th haul of 10 or more wickets in a Test, improving upon his own world record.
He is now behind West Indian Courtney Walsh (519), Australian Shane Warne (450), Indian Kapil Dev (434) and Hadlee (431) on the all-time Test wicket-takers’ list.—Reuters
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