Spin Wizard

After a brief lull, back with another one.. Back to one of my fav... sports, all though am loosing my sheen for quite a time, but couldn't resist myself after going through the news over retirement of Cricket's (one of) greatest spinner of all time Muttiah Muralitharan. Name itself is enough to send chilling spines over batsmen mind. Its just not the batsmen, even the crowd from opposite teams. 1990's and 2000 produced few of best spinners in Cricketing history and if we count among them, first names which come up will be of Murali's, Warne & Kumble. Even though, Musthaq Ahmed & Saqlain Mushtaq were masters in their own way, but they didn''t keep up with the pace of the game or with their other commitments.

There is always debate being done with comparision drawn b/w Warne/Kumble/Murali. Kumble as never been great turner of the bowl, but Warne/Murali irrespective of what the pitch is, for me they are the best spinners of modern cricketing world. There is huge cry over Murali's action & his way of bowling, but you cannot rule out the ingeniousness of this willow off-spinner. After breaking the Warne's world record of test wickets, everyone thought he is/will be the one to break 1000 wickets barrier, off late, the way cricket is played with so much of physical strain, it takes a huge toll on anyone. Am pretty much sure, it'll take a centuries of century to have some one like Murali to grace this game again.

Stats... which i got from CRICINFO site

http://www.cricinfo.com/sri-lanka-v-india-2010/content/current/player/49636.html