Facing up to 'Murali'
The Old Batsman blogger has never taken guard against Muttiah Muralitharan, but he has faced the closest imitation - Merlyn, the bowling machine known for its ability to replicate any bowler in the world
Nitin Sundar
25-Feb-2013
The Old Batsman blogger has never taken guard against Muttiah Muralitharan, but he has faced the closest imitation - Merlyn, the bowling machine known for its ability to replicate any bowler in the world. He recounts his experience against 'Murali', and is left wondering how good the original must be.
Merlyn was programmed to be 'human', in that he would bowl the occasional bad ball. One looked like a full toss. Late in the flight, I realised it was a full toss, and got enough bat on it to get it through mid on, if there hadn't been one. I got semi-cocky. The fear-sweat diminished a degree or two. I waited for the next one from Merlyn's implacable dead eye.
Here it came again - another full toss! I was out to meet it this time, 'Murali' was getting belted. Then it whirred, then it dipped, and then pitched just in front of me and took off - there's no other description for it - took off from leg to off, past the bat, past everything, me stranded halfway down the wicket.
Nitin Sundar is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo