Astonishing Feats Of The Bent Arm Bowler

With terrifying eyes and a turn that will trouble any batter who has never faced him before, he's the all time highest wicket taker in Test, ODI and International Cricket as a whole. Muttiah Muralitharan is not your everyday tailender, for he has some unique feats in other departments as well!

Born on a day like this in Kandy, he excelled as an off-spinner at St. Anthony's College Kandy. Not only was he among the legendary spin trio along with Ruwan Kalpage and Piyal Wijethunge, all three having represented Sri Lanka at some point in their career, but also won the Observer Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year Award in 1991.

The No-Ball, Sparked By A Bent Arm

His career had many ups and downs, starting from the Boxing Day controversies in 1995. Previously, only 5 degrees was allowed upon the release point for a bowler where Murali had a deformity in being unable to keep a straight arm. Umpire Darrel Hair called No-Ball 7 times in that match and a few days later, Ross Emerson did the same in the ODI series.

You'd think his career is over but in the end, with the help of biometrics, it was proven that he had a 14 degree bend and hence, ICC changed the rules to allow 15 degrees. Murali who was under the scrutiny of being a Chucker was cleared to bowl and the rest is history, starting with an immediate achievement of being a World Cup winner in 1996.

The Astonishing All Round Feats

It will be an endless list of most, most, most... but his most number of Test wickets (800) is an almost impossible record to break, so as his 534 wickets in ODIs (both formats include matches played for Asia XI). He also has records in other departments as well!

Did you know that,

1.) He has 70 caught and bowled dismissals in Test and ODIs combined (35 each) which is the most by any cricketer in all formats combined.

2.) He is the only player to hit the first ball he faces in a Test match for a six, three times!

3.) Among Sri Lanka Test Batters, he has the fewest balls faced per 6 ratio (minimum 500 balls faced)

His Six hitting ability in the long format is well known, but here is a chart of Sri Lankan Batters who have the fewest 'balls per 6' (developed with Tableau). No wonder he was Shoaib Akthar's toughest batter to bowl at! Here's a video of a cameo by Murali, with some of his unconventional strokes.

And finally to put the icing on the cake, here's another video of Murali's sharp fielding skills off his own bowling!

In the end, he became the first Sri Lankan Cricketer to be inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame. Following his retirement as a player, he took up coaching and is currently a part of the Sunrisers franchise in the IPL. He also plays a silent role with Ceylon Beverage International, expanding into the Indian market with brands like Spinner, Suncrush and Campa Cola.

Here's to wishing Murali on his 53rd birthday today!🎂