AHMEDABAD: Muttiah Muralitharan is contemplating his last test series on foreign soil and wants to achieve something he’s never done by guiding Sri Lanka to a win in India against a lineup containing Sachin Tendulkar.
Two of cricket’s greatest players head into the three-test series starting here Monday in different moods.
Muralitharan, the leading wicket-taker of all time with 783 in test cricket, was in a reflective mood after Sri Lanka’s warm-up match was abandoned due to rain.
“I have played enough cricket over the years. This could be my last tour overseas,” the 37-year-old spinner said.
“Sri Lanka has not won a test series in India, so it would be great if my team won the series this time.” Tendulkar will start the series a day after celebrating the 20th anniversary of his test debut as a teenager.
Among those lining up to wish him well was India’s chief selector Krish Srikkanth, who was India captain when Tendulkar made his debut at age 16 on Nov. 15, 1989 against Pakistan at Karachi.
“It is not a common thing in cricket to achieve so much in 20 years. He occupies top spot among the best in world cricket and perhaps the most popular cricketer in the game,” Srikkanth said. “He is role model to up and coming youngsters. In India every youngster who is in to school or college cricket wants to become a Sachin.
“I am sure the lovers of the game in India await much more achievements from Sachin in the years to come.” Tendulkar, already with a record 12,773 runs in 159 tests, including 42 centuries, has no plans of retiring just yet, particularly after India had only five test matches on the schedule this season.
He doesn’t think it’s enough.
“Ideally for any team to progress you need to play more test cricket as that is where the real cricket is, according to me,” he told a marathon news conference this week. “Test cricket is cricket of the highest level and since it is played across five days at the end of each day it allows you to regroup, re-think, come up with fresh ideas and plan for the next day.”
