'Never felt I'm the greatest bowler'
Muttiah Muralitharan talks to Mihir Bose, writing for the London Evening Standard , about his career, who he thinks are the best batsmen, umpire Darrell Hair and, among other things, his fondness for Galle.
Nikita Bastian
25-Feb-2013
Muttiah Muralitharan talks to Mihir Bose, writing for the London Evening Standard, about his career, who he thinks are the best batsmen, umpire Darrell Hair and, among other things, his fondness for Galle.
"Statistics-wise he [Sachin Tendulkar] may be but there are better players such as Ricky Pointing while Brian Lara is the best player that has ever been. When I bowled, I always found Brian Lara difficult." For Murali, no English batsman comes near Lara but he singles out Graham Thorpe, who retired from the international game in 2005 after scoring 6,744 runs in 100 Tests. "When I started, English batsmen did not play spin much, then they were not good enough. Nowadays English players play spinners better: reading spin from the hand, not playing off the pitch. Graham Thorpe was the best English batsman, he read my spin and played me well."
Nikita Bastian is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo