Record breaking Muralitharan to retire next year

Article Published: Friday 31 July 2009
Written by: Administrator
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Sri Lanka's world bowling record holder Muttiah Muralitharan said on Thursday he will quit Test cricket next year, but will continue to play limited-overs cricket.

The 37-year-old off-spinner, with a record 707 Test and 507 one-day wickets, announced that the two-Test series against the West Indies at home in November 2010 will be his last.

"I am not going to play for a long time," Muralitharan told reporters after the first one-day international against Pakistan here in which he was named man of the match for 32 off 15 balls and two wickets.

"Next year's West Indies series will be the last two Test matches I will be playing. That's the right time for me because I will be 38 years old.

"The 2011 World Cup is my aim, but I will enjoy playing Twenty20 cricket for a few more years.

Muralitharan missed the preceding three-Test series against Pakistan due to a knee injury.

"The hardest game in cricket is Tests," he said. "The hardest part is you have to take wickets and get batsmen out and sometimes you have to spend two days on the field.

"You have to mentally prepare yourself for every game. In Twenty20, you look to contain the batsmen and he tries some shots and gets out.

"The 50-over cricket is also the same. In Test cricket you have to read the batsmen, set the fields properly and get the wickets."

The 127-Test veteran said he had been working hard on his fitness as age caught up.

"I put in a lot of effort in the last one month to be fit," he said. "I trained very hard with the physio and trainers who helped me to get through the difficult period.

"I also enjoyed the rest. I trained hard although I knew my knee was not right.

"The doctors said that I have to go through with it and train harder. I can't go for an operation because I will be out for six to seven months.

"A torn tendon is a very big injury and it will take a long time to heal. The best suggestion was for me to rest for two to three weeks, train hard and play with a little pain.

"I was prepared to go through with it. The doctors said that I can definitely play with the injury for about one to two years but in the end when I finish I will have to operate on it."

Muralitharan, who once said he was aiming at 1,000 Test wickets, said the fewer Tests for Sri Lanka in recent years had made it difficult for him to achieve the milestone.

"If I am to get 1,000 Test wickets we have to play Test matches regularly," he said. "These days we play fewer Test matches."

Sri Lanka, who play two Tests against New Zealand next month and three in India at the end of the year, have just the two Tests against the West Indies next year.

Muralitharan, who made his Test debut against Australia in 1992, passed Australian Shane Warne's world mark of 708 wickets in December 2007.

He also overtook Pakistani Wasim Akram's record one-day tally of 502 wickets earlier this year.