Rather than sleeping with the enemy, Muttiah Muralitharan reckons his latest role as Australia’s specialist spin coach is all about helping out his new friends.
The Sri Lankan spin ace, who retired from the game in 2010 but still holds the record of being the leading wicket-taker in Tests (800) and ODIs (534), endured a stormy relationship with the Australians during his playing career.
Muralitharan was twice called for chucking by Australian umpires – by Darrell Hair in 1995 and then in 1999 by Ross Emerson, who later revealed that he did so on orders from Cricket Australia officials. There was a time when the Sri Lankan legend was so incensed on being targeted that he said he’d never tour Australia.
But after repeatedly passing the bio-mechanical test, Murali and his magic gained acceptance Down Under, and earlier this year, he was offered the spin coach role.
The 42-year-old Murali said there was no bitterness in him with regards to what happened earlier in his career.
“Life is all about moving forward. It is not about looking backwards and saying he has done something to me, so I should be harsh to him. It should be forget and forgive and move on. That’s how I see life,” said the man who took ten wickets in a Test match an amazing 22 times.
“They suspected that I was not bowling legally, so I had to prove my innocence. I proved myself all 20 years of my career, and they accepted. Bad things do happen, but that does not mean you should keep vengeance in your heart.”
Even though Murali started working with the team recently, he seems to have made a difference as Glenn Maxwell and young Cameron Boyce in the Twenty20, and then Nathan Lyon and Maxwell in the first ODI in Sharjah, troubled the Pakistani batsmen no end.
Speaking about his role during the 15-day contract, Murali said he was expected to not just help the spinners bowl better, but also help the Australian batsmen play spin better.
“My role is for a short period. I am with them for 15 days, and my duty is to whatever I can with the spin bowlers, and also with the batsmen to become better players against spin,” said Murali.
“I have been working with Nathan and a few other bowlers for four days when they came out to Sri Lanka before this series. We set some goals and discussed how we are going to achieve that. They have been working very hard and when I came here, they were doing those things.
“We are not working so much on the action of the bowlers but on things like how fast or slow do you bowl, how you try and bowl different deliveries and mix them up, and how to read the pace of the wickets in different places and how to change your bowling accordingly.
“I am definitely impressed with the progress they have made so far. Lyon specially has been bowling very well. He did that in Zimbabwe and his performance was very good in Sharjah as well.”
When asked if the ICC should relax its law to save the doosra, the one delivery that is causing problems for Pakistan spinner Saeed Ajmal and Sri Lanka’s Sachitra Senanayake, Murali was in no doubt that the doosra could be bowled within the 15-degree limit.
“The law has been set a long time ago and it has been set at 15 degrees. I have been tested several times and my doosra had a bend of 10.4 degrees. So it can be done by staying within the limit prescribed by the law. It all depends on the bowler,” said Murali, who added he saw no reason why Ajmal cannot make a comeback to international cricket.
“Ajmal can improve his action if he works for 2-3 months on it. I think he is working with (former Pakistan spinner) Saqlain Mushtaq now, and he can benefit from Saqlain’s tips. Nothing is impossible in life.”
