‘Murali greatest spinner of all time’

Ranjan Anandappa

Sri Lanka skipper Kumar Sangakkara paid the highest accolade to his champion spinner Muthiah Muralitharan saying that he was the greatest spinner of all time and further went on to say that all know his records and what he has done,but his true value is not as a cricketer he said.

“For me I have been very fortunate to spend ten years of my career playing with ‘Murali’ watching him doing wonders on the field, work his magic for the benefit of Sri Lanka, but what sticks in my mind is not his 9 wickets against Zimbabwe or bowling us to victory at the London Oval in 1998, first World Cup win. All of these are memories ,but they do not come into my mind when I think of Murali.

“A bit fortunate I think more than any other who just know him as a personality I am very fortunate to call ‘Murali’ my friend. To me the most impressive thing about him is just him, his personality, his values,his beliefs, and his greatest contribution not only to the Sri Lankan team, but also to Sri Lankan society”, he said.

“In this modern day where cricketers are accused at various stages of being greedy ,money hungry,not really thinking about the country and the game, I think “Murali” stands out as outstanding example in the contrary.

He is a man of value where there is no price you can put on his ability and what he has done for us. He is on the same contract level at the Cricket Board as I am,his money or earning capacity is a fraction of the earning capacity of the cricketers in other parts of the world.

“But to Murali that was never a concern and never entered his mind he never talked about it and never grumbled”, said Sangaskkara.

Muralitharan while thanking all who helped him including his coach and his supporters for his achievements and made special mention of President Mahinda Rajapaksa who defended him when there were allegations of “chucking” even from the former Australian Prime Minister John Howard.