Muralitharan goes into the series with 704 Test wickets
Sir Lanka spinner Muttiah Muralitharan is relishing the
chance to break the Test wickets record in front of his
hometown fans in Kandy.
The 35-year-old, who was born in Kandy, is currently four
wickets short of Shane Warne's record of 708.
The series with England starts in the central Sri Lankan
town on Saturday.
"It would be a special moment to do it at my home place
because I grew up here and played all my cricket here in
my younger days," Muralitharan said.
Interview: Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan
"It would be nice to get the five wickets here but
it depends on how I bowl and the way they bat."
The Sir Lankan admitted that when he was starting out he
had no idea he would one day be on the verge of becoming
the leading Test wicket taker of all time.
If I want to get 1,000 I have to play for another four or
five years and I'm 35 now so realistically it's not possible
Muttiah Muralitharan
"I didn't even think about it. When I started playing
cricket at the age of eight or nine it was just the enjoyment
of playing cricket," he said.
"When I first played, against Australia, I thought
if I played one Test I would be happy.
"Once I had played one Test I thought I could carry
on going a little bit more.
"Rather than thinking of the end result I just played
and the wickets came."
Predictions of how many wickets Muralitharan will end his
career with have gone as high as 1,000 but the Sri Lankan
played down talk of reaching four figures.
"It's difficult to say because if I want to get 1,000
I have to play for another four or five years and I'm 35
now, so realistically it's not possible," he insisted.
"But you never know because if something goes well
and the next three years are fabulous - like last year when
I took 96 wickets - if I can do that for another three years
it could happen."
Courtesy - BBC/SNNI |