The Hindu : Sport : Sri Lanka has its own agenda: Murali

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Wednesday, Nov 07, 2007
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Sri Lanka has its own agenda: Murali

— PHOTO: AP

LETHAL WEAPON: Muttiah Muralitharan, nine wickets shy of breaking Sharne Warne’s World record, will hope to come good in the series against Australia.

Melbourne: Sri Lanka would not emulate India’s ultra-aggressive tactics against Australia during the upcoming two-Test cricket series down under, off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan said.

He and opening bowler Chaminda Vaas said their team would focus on playing smart, positive cricket in the true spirit of the game during the rubber starting on Thursday.

Muralitharan, who needs nine wickets to become the most successful Test bowler upstaging Shane Warne’s World record of 708, said Sri Lanka had no designs on following the Indian example of “fighting fire with fire” during the recent series in India, which the Aussies won 4-2.

“(We want) to play decent cricket and not (approach it) like the Indians,” Muralitharan said at Queensland Cricket’s annual Test match luncheon, The Age reported on Tuesday.

“We’d like to play our game,” he said and added, “the challenge is not to think about the end results.”

Muralitharan is not thinking about the prospect of breaking Warne’s record and said he is more concerned about proving himself in Australia.

The 35-year-old averages 32.47 for his 67 wickets against Australia in 15 Tests, well down from his career-mark of 21.33, but his record here is much worse with eight wickets in three Tests at 63.

He has also been no-balled on two separate visits, suffered verbal crowd abuse and been pelted with fruit as well as heard Prime Minister John Howard brand him a chucker.

“I had a bad tour in 1995 and I want to forget that. That’s when it all started,’ he said. — PTI

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