Muralitharan ties the knot

Muttiah Muralitharan, Sri Lanka's spin wizard and previously one of the island's most eligible bachelors, has married his Chennai-based bride, Madhi Ramamurthy, during a colourful traditional South Indian wedding ceremony on Monday morning.

Muralitharan, his entire family and close friends decamped to Chennai early last week to organise four days of celebrations that started with an informal party on Saturday night thrown by his brother Shashi and will end with a grand reception on Tuesday night for a 1000 relatives and friends.

But the formal and traditional marriage to 24-year-old Radhi, a business administration postgraduate and the director of a leading private heart hospital founded by her late father, was the centrepiece attraction, a glittering five-hour celebration of the couple's wedlock that started at 8am and was still going strong when guests were invited for lunch.

The 2000 invitees - plus a couple of Sri Lanka politicians who invited themselves, and a swarming mass of photographers and television cameramen, a few of whom had to be restrained as they searched desperately for the best angles - crowded into the Rani Meyyammai Hall in central Chennai to watch Murali and Madhi, sat cross-legged under a lavishly decorated wedding pavilion, tie the matrimonial knot.

Sanath Jayasuriya and Chaminda Vaas were the only current cricketers to attend - the others could only arrive in time for the reception - and were joined by a string of ex-internationals, including Arjuna Ranatunga, a close friend, and Sidath Wettimuny. Current coach John Dyson flew in from Colombo and ex-coach Dav Whatmore jetted in from Dhaka.

The invitees gazed onto a wedding platform, helped by giant television screens that showed the guests entering and the ceremony on stage unfold, as a temple priest, B Kumar from the Lord Muruga Temple, lead the couple through an intricate South Indian Hindu ceremony that included 27 separate stages, from symbolic rituals to blessings and prayers to the gods.

Murali, dressed handsomely in a shining white long kurta and trousers, started by washing his parents' feet. Prayers to the Goddess of Wealth were next, followed by the cooking of rice and the tying of a sacred Mangalyam thread around Madhi's neck, the confirmation of their new bond that guests celebrated by showering the couple with yellow rice and flower petals.

After exchanging garlands the couple paid homage to a sacred fire and then welcomed all the guests onto the stage to accept their congratulations and best wishes. With the official photographer working overtime, snapping each exchange, handshake and hug, the process last two hours before the final series of rituals.

Muralitharan had started to think about marriage after his shoulder injury in August. Bored and frustrated by his absence from the team, he started to look towards the future and possible marriage, a changing mindset that delighted his mother Lakshmi, who had for some time been keeping an eye out for a suitable bride.

The actual engagement happened swiftly after a visit to Chennai in November set-up by S Chandrasekhar, a Tamil movie star and close friend of the Ramamurthy family, and Murali's mother, who was a Chandrasekar-movie fanatic. Murali and Madhi warmed to each other immediately and the horoscopes matched well. By the time Murali returned to Colombo a few days later both families had happily agreed to the marriage.

Although her father had been a cricket obsessive, Madhi was clueless about the game and her future groom's cricketing exploits when they first met. But she is a furious reader, with a particular love for psychology, and soon swatted up on the game, pouring through literature and logging onto to cricket websites.

The pair will now return to Sri Lanka to start their new life together. Fortunately, for Sri Lanka cricket fans, Madhi has promised Murali all the support he needs to continue his career for the foreseeable future. A year ago Murali had talked about the 2007 World Cup as his retirement date but now he's keen to play well beyond. Madhi hopes to continue working with the hospital, now run by her mother, from Sri Lanka.