Congratulations Murali on the 800th wicket
Sri Lanka’s spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan claimed a record 800 Test wickets as India were bundled out for 338 in their second innings on Day 5 of the first Test in Galle, Sri Lanka on Thursday.
In his final Test, Muralitharan picked up his 67th five-wicket haul and forced India to follow-on after they had resumed their first innings at 140/3 on Wednesday.
Having dismissed Tendulkar in the first innings on the third day, Muralitharan added the wickets of Yuvraj (52), skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (33) and tailenders Pragyan Ojha and Abhimanyu Mithun.
Needing three wickets in the second innings to reach the magic 800 mark, he removed Yuvraj Singh with the last ball of the fourth day, and trapped fellow off-spinner Harbhajan Singh lbw early on day five. Last pair Ojha and Ishant Sharma resisted for 15 overs. Finally Ojha edged a flighted off break to who else but Mahela Jayawardene to become Murali’s 800th victim. How fitting. It was the 77th time Jayawardene had taken a catch off Murali. A world record. Murali roared, his team-mates exploded and hoisted him on their shoulders, his wife and mother jumped out of their seats, the crowd cleared their throat and the fireworks exploded. All seemed well with the world.
MURALI’S 800 TEST WICKETS
112 v England (in 16 Tests)
105 v India (in 22)
104 v South Africa (in 15)
89 v Bangladesh (in 11)
87 v Zimbabwe (in 14)
82 v New Zealand (in 14)
82 v West Indies (in 12)
80 v Pakistan (in 16)
59 v Australia (in 13)
