Mahinda Wijesinghe 
All of us from 8 to 80 are fascinated by magicians, since fact is inevitably intertwined with fiction. Were the various feats attributed to them true or a figment of one’s imagination? That very doubt is what sustains and titillates one’s curiosity and interest.
In the middle ages it was Merlin, King Arthur’s counsellor and magician, who not only guided the monarch to withdraw the sword Excalibur from the Stone, but also is credited as being the creator of the Round Table, and in general, used his magical powers for the King to attain various goals. Then came Hungarian born magician and escape artist Harry Houdini (1874-1926) who baffled the world with his amazing stunts of escapades from seemingly impossible situations, and right down to the costumed crime fighter created by Leo Falk during the 1930’s in comics and later in newspaper strips, namely, Mandrake the Magician.
However, in modern times and right at our own doorstep, — indeed he happens to be my neighbour as well! – alighted a modern magician, albeit a cricketing one, Murali! Who but a magician, and a determined one at that, could have bowled 62,096 deliveries for his country and scalped 1,320 international wickets in all three forms of the game? Sri Lanka has won 60 Test matches since the first Test played in 1982. In the 45 Test matches Sri Lanka has won with him in the side, Murali has captured not less than 373 wickets! Put another way, a stunning average of 8.3 victims per game when he was operating! How his captains must have felt with this man in the side. No wonder he can be rightfully termed a conjuror as well.
“Smiling garlands” photo courtesy of Lake house Murali, would always be a benchmark for international bowlers to aspire to. Currently, Murali is well established as the star-turn in the pantheon of bowlers of all-time. The holder of almost every conceivable international bowling record rests lightly on this modest cricketer. True, Sydney F. Barnes (1873-1967) achieved an incredible, round 7 wickets per Test when pitches were uncovered in his 27-Test career, bagging 189 victims, for England at the beginning of the 20th century. On the other hand, Murali’s statistics reveal, a slightly lower figure of, coincidentally, a round figure of 6 wickets a Test, so far, having scalped 792 wickets in 132 Tests. Why? Because the Sri Lankan has played a mind-boggling 105 more Test matches than Barnes, and in an era of covered pitches to boot. Also, one must not forget that in the modern era, sophisticated technology is freely available for the opposition to scrutinize, analyse and prepare to take remedial counter measures. Would Barnes have maintained 7 wickets/Test if he played 132 Tests as Murali has done so far? Not likely.
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Charlie Austin, written 22 July 2010, re-presented courtesy of cricinfo.org
It says much about Murali that you’ll never hear a bad word spoken about him. Forget for a moment his prolific on-field record, Murali the man is deeply loved and enormously respected by team-mates and opponents alike. Kumar Sangakkara, his captain and close friend, summed it up most eloquently a few years ago: “The greatest tribute I can pay him is that I have met no finer man. He’s great as a cricketer and even better as a human being.” Yet, somehow, Murali is still a little misunderstood. An Indian journalist asked me last week if it was true that Murali was a loner in the dressing room? I laughed out loud.
