Muttiah Muralitharan, the magical spinner in the history of cricket, just booked his place in the cricket world's hall of fame. Murali equalled the world record of 519 wickets set previously by the Caribbean legend
Courtney Walsh. He became the fastest and youngest to get to the mark. Just behind him is the Australian,
Shane warne.
What's so wonderful about this legend's career is that he's won innumerable matches for SriLanka both at home and overseas, not only just taking wickets. He's aptly called and truly *is* a 'magician'. To think that all the grunts he recieved in Australia about his bowling action might've only helped him become better and didn't decline his talent or morale, makes sense. :) Bravo, Murali!
Long back, when Kapil Dev achieved this feat (of taking the highest number of Test wickets), News Papers, TV channel(s) were filled with praises and short documentaries about his life and legacy. Now, that this SriLankan Magician of Indian origin has achieved this feat, we can now expect such things in a higher proportion in both Indian and SriLankan Media...
Here are the standings as of now, for the highest wicket takers in the world.
(*source -
Wisden cricinfo)
Name Mat Balls M R W Ave Best 5 10 SR Econ Team
M Muralitharan 89 30138 1356 11824 519 22.78 9-51 44 13 58.5 2.33 SL
CA Walsh 132 30019 1144 12688 519 24.44 7-37 22 3 57.8 2.53 WI
SK Warne 110 30885 1454 13145 517 25.42 8-71 27 8 59.7 2.55 AUS
N Kapil Dev 131 27740 1060 12867 434 29.64 9-83 23 2 63.9 2.78 IND
RJ Hadlee 86 21918 809 9611 431 22.29 9-52 36 9 50.8 2.63 NZ