THE pace at which major world records are being smashed is amazing, both in terms of batting and bowling. Muttiah Muralitharan’s latest feat is the continuation of that process. Courtney Walsh, whose record Murli broke recently, has rightly assessed that the Sri Lankan has the potential to challenge the 800-wicket mark in Test cricket, and I agree with him.
Time certainly is on Muralitharan’s side. Though he has been around for some time, he is certainly not in the twilight of his career. In any case, his strike rate is phenomenal and that suggests he may require much less time than what would one generally expect from an international cricketer. Besides, he has the enthusiasm to go for it.
Murli, for sure, is a controversial figure in the game, with his bowling action coming under intense scrutiny every few years. Though he has been cleared by technology every time, his exploits on the field owe a lot to his mental toughness that enables him to deliver the goods even when there is a controversy raging off the field of play. The role of the Sri Lankan cricketing authorities is no less. It has fully backed its player through thick and thin, and has refused to bow down to pressure, which is great.
Over the years, Murli has been the one-man demolition unit for Sri Lanka. His feats are so great that a bowler like Chaminda Vaas, who has taken more than 250 Test wickets, is relegated to the status of being just another individual in the side. Generally, anyone with that many wickets would get due recognition as a leading bowler, but Murli, and not Vaas or anyone else, is the man the Sri Lankans look up to. That also puts more pressure on him to perform, and, if statistics are anything to go by, Murli enjoys that pressure. It sort of eggs him on to lead the attack even more effectively.
I played my cricket in an era when two hundred wickets against anyone’s name were enough to make people take him seriously. Another fifty wickets — 250 in all — would make anyone great, and those with 300 were immediately inducted in the game’s hall of fame.
Englishman Fred Trueman’s record of 307 wickets stood for around a decade before West Indian off-spinner Lance Gibbs improved it by a couple of wickets in mid-70s. But then started an era that saw Kapil Dev, Ian Botham, Imran Khan and Richard Hadlee competing among themselves for the tag of the game’s best all-rounder in modern times. They all crossed three hundred in a hurry, and the bar was then set at 350. Now individuals with that many career scalps are not on the list of top-ten wicket-takers.
As the list stands today, there are only two players with less than 400 wickets, and one of them, Anil Kumble of India, needs just three more to move on to the 400 club. Next in line should be South African Shuan Pollock who would most likely replace Botham on the top-ten list, which would then firmly set the hall of fame benchmark at 400. Interestingly, of the ten on the list, three have more than 500 wickets, and two of those three are still active and have a few years to extend their own records.
The situation is no different when it comes to batting. Garfield Sobers’ unbeaten 365 against Pakistan was a record that stood for some 35 years, but in the last ten years, it has been broken thrice, twice by Brian Lara and once by Mathew Hayden.
This is the changing face of international cricket where more games are being played than ever before. If a player has the basic ability, and is willing to spend enough time in the gym to keep himself fit on a long-term basis, there is little to stop him from achieving excellence, at least statistical excellence.
THE pace at which major world records are being smashed is amazing, both in terms of batting and bowling. Muttiah Muralitharan’s latest feat is the continuation of that process. Courtney Walsh, whose record Murli broke recently, has rightly assessed that the Sri Lankan has the potential to challenge the 800-wicket mark in Test cricket, and I agree with him.
