The Hindu : Sport : Muttiah Muralitharan set for another big haul

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 08, 2006

Sport

Sport

Muttiah Muralitharan set for another big haul

Bogra: Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan hopes to celebrate his elevation as the world's top-ranked bowler with a bagful of wickets in second Test against Bangladesh starting on Wednesday.

The off-spinner replaced Australian Glenn McGrath in the International Cricket Council's latest rankings released on Monday after his nine-wicket haul in the first Test in Chittagong last week.

Muralitharan's devastating bowling sent Bangladesh crashing to an eight-wicket defeat, its sixth loss in as many matches against Sri Lanka and the 36th defeat in 41 Tests so far.

Of the remaining five Tests, four ended in draws, while its lone success came against Zimbabwe.

Muralitharan is the only bowler in history to claim more than 1,000 international wickets. His tally of 1004 included 593 Test and 411 one-day wickets.

"I am always positive about taking wickets in every game I play," the 33-year-old said. "I hope I can do the same again here."

Sri Lanka's stand-in captain Mahela Jayawardene, who took over from the rested Marvan Atapattu for the short tour, paid rich tribute to his main strike bowler.

"The key is that Murali is such a deep-thinking bowler and someone who can adjust his game brilliantly to the conditions," said Jayawardene.

He, however, warned against taking Bangladesh lightly in the second Test despite the rival's poor record.

"We know that Bangladesh will come at us hard again and we must focus completely on our gameplan," he said.

The teams (from):

Bangladesh: Habibul Bashar (capt.), Khaled Mashud, Shahriar Nafees, Rajin Saleh, Javed Omar, Nafees Iqbal, Mohammad Ashraful, Aftab Ahmed, Alok Kapali, Mohammad Rafique, Enamul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim, Syed Rasel, Tapash Baisya, Shahadat Hossain.

Sri Lanka: Mahela Jayawardene (capt.), Kumar Sangakkara, Upul Tharanga, Michael Vandort, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Thilan Samaraweera, Chamara Kapugedera, Prasanna Jayawardene, Muttiah Muralitharan, Malinga Bandara, Farveez Maharoof, Dammika Prasad, Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando, Sajeewa Weerakoon. — AFP

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