Muttiah Muralitharan raised his left arm, acknowledged the applause and vanished behind the dressing room door at Wankhede Stadium, quietly ending a fascinating international career on Saturday.
The wily Sri Lankan off-spinner defied a hamstring injury and a knee problem to walk out for the World Cup final against India, hoping to be a member of two World Cup winning Sri Lankan squads but that was not to be.
The eight overs he sent down, mixing off-spinners with his unique ‘doosras’ could not make much of a difference against Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men and he retreated into the background.
His skipper Kumar Sangakkara insisted the decision to play Muralitharan despite his fitness concerns were based on performance and not any romanticism.
“He is our best bowler, even half-fit. He was fine. He had a few injuries but he was almost fully fit today,” Sangakkara told reporters after his team were beaten by six wickets.
“We are going to miss him terribly. Wish we could give him a great send-off.”
What Muralitharan got from the fans at Wankhede Stadium was not bad either.
Former India captain Ravi Shastri, hosting the presentation ceremony, asked the fans to give Muralitharan a rousing cheer and the boisterous fans obliged by raising the decibel level.
A wide grin illuminated his face as he went up to collect his runners-up medal but even the smile could barely hide his disappointment.
That same affability masked the guile with which he earned 800 Test and 534 one-day scalps. On Saturday he was the only person on the field who already owned a World Cup title as he was a member of the team that triumphed in 1996.
With the medal dangling around his neck, Muralitharan looked around and then waved before leaving for the dressing room.
FACTBOX
* Born in Kandy, Sri Lanka on April 17, 1972.
* Muralitharan is cricket’s greatest wicket-taker in both test cricket and one-day internationals and one of the most successful bowlers in the game.
* The legality of the 38-year-old off-spinner’s bowling action had split opinions but was cleared by the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 1996 and again in 1999.
* The eldest of four sons, Muralitharan began cricket as a medium pace bowler before switching to off-spin when he was 14 years-old. He made his test debut aged 20 against Australia on Aug. 28, 1992, claiming three wickets for 141 runs.
* A year later he captured his first five-wicket haul in Tests against South Africa with figures of 5-104.
* On March 16 1997, he became the first Sri Lankan to reach 100 Test wickets. In January 1998, he took his first 10-wicket haul against Zimbabwe in the first Test.
* In August that year, Muralitharan produced career best figures of 16-220 in a one-off Test against England.
* On March 16 2004, he became the fastest and youngest bowler to reach 500 wickets during the second Test against Australia in Kandy. Muralitharan had reached the landmark just four days after Australia’s Shane Warne had done so on the fifth day of the first Test.
* Having tussled with Warne for the leading Test-wicket taker status in the following years, Muralitharan reclaimed the record in Dec. 3, 2007 against England with his 709th wicket.
* On Feb. 5, 2009 he also overtook Pakistan’s Wasim Akram as the highest wicket-taker in one-day internationals.
* On July 22 in his final Test match he took the eight wickets needed to reach the 800 mark. Muralitharan removed India’s Pragyan Ojha on the fifth afternoon with his family watching in the stands at the Galle Stadium to claim the feat.
* In his last international match, Sri Lanka were beaten by India in the 2011 World Cup final. He finishes his career with of 534 ODI wickets.
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