All eyes on Murali
Chris Dhambarage in Galle
Sri Lanka’s legendary off spinner Muttiah Muralitharan was the
cynosure of all eyes as he began his farewell Test match against India
at the Galle International Stadium yesterday. As bad weather delayed the
start of the match by half an hour, Muralitharan walked into the middle
to a rousing welcome with warm congratulations from the Indian and Sri
Lankan cricketers.
The 38-year-old veteran spinner was then presented with a special
plaque as a token of appreciation by the Central Province Chief Minister
Sarath Ekanayake and Sports Minister C. B. Ratnayake.
A specially designed coin was used by the match officials to be
tossed with Muralitharan’s face on one side and some of his masterly
statistics on the other side.
And fittingly Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara won the toss and
had no hesitation in electing to bat first. As a result Muralitharan
will have to wait further to get the ball in his hand to make his
presence felt in his farewell test match.
Muralitharan needs just eight wickets in his final test appearance to
become the first player to reach the 800 wicket mark. In addition the
Galle International Stadium is one of Muralitharan’s favourite venues
having captured 103 wickets from 14 tests. |