Murali puts history on a spin; notches 520

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal"><script language="javascript">doweshowbellyad=0; </script><br />Bravo! Bowled! Muttiah Muralitharan has become the world''s most prolific bowler by reaching the magic figure of 520 wickets, crowning a career that has given so much entertainment to cricket lovers.<br /><br />On the third day of second innings against Zimbabwe on Saturday, Muralitharan bagged the golden wicket, surpassing West Indian bowler Courtney Walsh''s world record.<br /><br />He had to wait till the eighth over before he forced Nkala to hole out to Mahela Jayawardene at forward shot leg and spark the Lankan celebrations.<script language="javascript">doweshowbellyad=0; </script><br /><img align="left" src="/photo/665820.cms" alt="/photo/665820.cms" border="0" /><br /><br />Oh! The irony of it all. Here is a man who has been put on probation by the cricket establishment, questioning his very existence on the playing field, threatening his career and his reputation with rack and ruin. And yet through it all he has persevered to keep his form, his body and his passion intact, determinedly working his way past all challenges standing proudly over the records that he has achieved.<br /><br />He has time and again proved that he will rise above every criticism, every verbal bouncer and keep on plugging away to do the thing that he does best - bamboozling batsmen to their doom.<br /><br />His great technical skill and brilliance were in full visibility when he achieved this feat in the second innings of the first Test against Zimbabwe, pipping to the post the destructive Aussie leg spinner Shane Warne.<br /><br />The 32-year-old spin-bowling icon had equalled the world record for career Test wickets on Thursday ensuring that Sri Lanka took full control of the first Test albeit against a strife-torn Zimbabwean team at the Harare Sports Club. <br /><br />This was his 44th haul of five-wickets or more in a Test innings. Blessed with a most taciturn and humble demeanours, he played the achievement down as just another record. But his innate competitiveness revealed itself when he said that he was happy to reach the mark before Aussie Warne. <br /><br />In an amazing career spanning some dozen years he has become one of the most lethal bowlers, feared for his abilities to confound even the best of batsmen. He has worked his magic in every major cricket-playing country in the world and today he is recognised as the best of them all. <br /><br />He has the ability to extract turn even from the most docile of pitches and where nothing works, he brings in to bear his devastating surprise weapon, the fearsome ''doosra'' which is a delivery that turns away from the right-handed batsmen - one of the most difficult of tasks to achieve by any spinner.<br /><br /><br /></div> </div><div class="section2"><div class="Normal"><br />In a career that is marked by as many dips as highs, he has been hounded almost all his life under the accusation of ''throwing'', yet he was never put under a ban, and in spite of this he has gone on to cast aside all pressures and emerge as cricket''s greatest wicket-takers - and in the process usurping from the fast bowlers the prize that had always been theirs.<br /><br />In fact it may not be far from the truth to say that Muralitharan and Shane Warne have been able to take away the limelight entirely from the fast bowlers and become their countries'' main destructive force - the weapons of choice so to speak. <br /><br />In fact, he has shown that brains and not just brawn is needed to reach the heights of excellence that he has achieved - - in addition to a supple and sublime wrist.<br /><br />From the time that he made his debut till today when he has achieved unmitigated greatness, that comes to a cricketer after exceptional effort, there is a lot of unseen and unrecognised traits, habits and occurrences that he had gone through.<br /><br />The most important one of them of course was that he was a Sri Lankan Tamilian - a community at odds with with the government and which has been carrying on a guerrilla movement for decades. No prices for guessing that it must have played on his mind every time he took to the field wearing his country''s colours.<br /><br />Then there was the matter of facing accusations that he ''chucked'' which was especially pursued by the Australians. <br /><br />He rode through the controversy, but he was visibly upset about these remarks and showed it on field for all the world to see. In fact, he was on the verge of quitting many times, and it was his mentor, the former Lankan skipper Arjuna Ranatunga, who dragged him back, kicking and screaming, from any such action.<br /><br />Then there what’s the matter of wear and tear. Blessed with a weak constitution, he has fought hard to overcome many injury scares throughout his career. Pictures of him writhing in pain from the damage that he did from being over bowled year after year are unforgettably etched in our memory. <br /><br />With his trademark fearsome facial expressions he has terrorised batsmen and looking at the passion with which he is still bowling there is no doubt that he will keep on dishing it out in the same vein for some more years. Definitely a visual treat for his fans and the public across the world.<br /><br /><formid=367815></formid=367815></div> </div>