OTD| With 800 wickets in bag Muttiah Muralitharan bid farewell to Test Cricket in 2010

Sri Lanka star bowler Muttiah Muralitharan spent all of his cricket career with the reputation of a gritty player who never hesitated, regardless of challenges. Notably, the great spinner was one of the most significant players in cricket history owing to his willingness to take on challenges. On top of that, Murli revealed his retirement from Test cricket ahead of the first Test against India in 2010. In addition, the right-arm off-spinner only required eight additional wickets to accomplish the feat of being the first bowler to rack up 800 wickets.

Muralitharan needed eight wickets to reach the 800-wicket mark heading into the Test. In the initial inning of batting, the Lankan team produced an enormous score of 520/8 after opting to bat first against the MS Dhoni-led Indian side. It seems that the iconic Sri Lankan bowler decided outright that he wanted to pick up eight wickets in the first Test of the series. The right-arm bowler Muralitharan produced his 67th five-wicket haul to bowl out India for 276 during the first innings of the Galle Test, providing his team with a 244-run lead against the visitors.

Following that, Team India couldn’t avoid the follow-on and scored 181 runs against the home team in the second innings of the first Test with the loss of five wickets. Murali only required two scalps on the final day of the test match (July 22, 2010), with 798 already to his credit. Following that, he later scalped two wickets and became the finest bowler in the history of cricket to collect 800 wickets in Test cricket.

The 51-year-old cricketer concluded his career with 800 Test wickets, 534 ODI wickets, and 13 T20I wickets. He remains the most successful wicket-taker in both Test and ODI cricket. On top of that, Muralitharan was inducted into the International Cricket Council’s Hall of Fame in 2021, alongside legends like Sir Donald Bradman, Sir Vivian Richards, and Shane Warne.