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Bravo Murali

For the last decade-and-a-half, no single cricketer has meant more to his national side than has Muttiah Muralitharan to Sri Lanka. Without him, the islanders have often appeared as enfeebled as a shorn Samson. His extraordinary ability to turn the ball on all surfaces — including, as they say in England, “the M-4” — and ask questions of some of the finest men ever to wield a willow has been crucial to his team’s success: in 45 Test wins, Mura li has taken an incredible 373 wickets. Indeed, Murali’s influence has transcended cricket. The articulate Kumar Sangakkara has spoken of the importance of the Tamil [of recent Indian origin]’s conciliatory presence for a strife-torn nation. The pride and joy evident in Kandy, Murali’s hometown, when the off-spinning wizard dismissed Paul Collingwood and became Test cricket’s highest wicket-taker was wholly understandable. As remarkable as his relentless march towards reclaiming the world record has been the grace and courage with which he has handled the taunts over the legality of his bowling action. Murali, hailed as a “rubber-wristed illusionist” by Steve Waugh — a sagacious judge of cricketing ability — might never be able to say for sure if the deformity with which he was born was nature’s blessing or curse. For the bent elbow and preternaturally flexible wrist have rewarded him and punished him in turn.

Murali has allowed himself to be subjected to several biomechanic tests — even going so far as to bowl with an elbow brace that would check its straightening. The tests proved the need for greater research into the complex mechanics of bowling actions; they also exposed the flaw in the conventional definition of chucking. Virtually every bowler was found to flex his elbow to some degree. Although Murali was seen not to gain an advantage over either batsmen or other bowlers, the critics have persisted, and, in so doing, passed up the opportunity to see him for what he really is — a truly exceptional spinner. In an era when improved bat technology and shortening boundaries have made the spinner’s task unfairly arduous, Murali has dominated batsmen through subtlety, skill, stamina, and accuracy. Barring Brian Lara, the West Indian genius, no batsman can claim to have mastered him. Purists will pick Shane Warne, whose record of 708 wickets Murali broke, as the greater bowler. No doubt Warne at his peak was an aesthete’s delight, but the smiling Sri Lankan running through a side with wicked, unreadable deliveries is no less a spectacle. As Mike Marqusee wrote in The Guardian on Monday: “He’s not just a Sri Lankan hero; he belongs to us all.”

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