When Murali's parents offered poojas (28 November 1998)

28 November 1998

When Murali's parents offered poojas

by S M Jiffrey Abdeen

When Muralitharan was called for throwing by umpire Darrel Hair on that boxing day in 1995 we even offered poojas to invoke the blessings of the deities on him, so that he will come out unscathed in the problem which made world headlines.

This was stated by Lakshmi Muthusamy - the mother of Sri Lanka's and world's No. 1 off spinner Muthiah Muralitharan. We were watching on television when Sri Lanka was playing Australia on the Boxing Day in 1995, when umpire Hair suddenly noballed him for throwing according to the commentators. We had so much hopes on him and we were confident that he was never a cheat and will never do anything wrong and the world we built around his cricketing career crumbled.

Lakshmi Muthusamy continuing said we were upset and this was something which we never expected especially because he had played in so many test matches and one dayers where his bowling had been found to be legitimate and did not violate any of the laws of cricket. We then left it to the Gods to help him out of his predicament which almost shattered his career. During the same series Ross Emerson too called him for throwing. We thought that was the end.

But how much they tried to put him down to an offence which he never committed but in the end he emerged victor with the ICC clearing his action as legitimate. The Gods helped us. But at this stage we must never forget the efforts of former Cricket Coach Dave Whatmore, Skipper Arjuna Ranatunga and the cricket board officials who helped my son to get over the problem by getting various tests done which convinced the ICC that Muralitharan was not throwing but there was a deformity in his arm.

But with Sri Lanka now about to tour Australia and umpire Darrel Hair threatening to give a repeat performance of his 1995 Boxing Day chicanery or shall we say a television replay, the cricketing world is waiting with abated breath whether Darrel Hair will carry out his threat. But Darrel Hair may have a lot of questions to answer on his comment about Ruwan Kalpage and Kumar Dharmasena both he says, he could have noballed them for throwing. This raises a serious doubt about the integrity of Darrel Hair as he had two sets of rules one for Muralitharan and the other for Kalpage and Dharmasena. If a bowler is throwing or his delivery is not legitimate, he should have called and there should be no compromise and he has no business to think of the future and as an umpire he has failed to carry out his duties by his own words.

Lakshmi Muthusamy also said that Muralitharan is extremely popular in his village of Nattarampotha where his father Muthusamy runs a flourishing confectionery. Whenever Murali is around, he stops the vehicle and speaks to his former playmates. He is not proud. Apart from cricket, Murali loves to watch rugger matches and whenever he is in Kandy and if there is a rugger match in which Kandy Sports Club is playing he never fails to rush to the venue.

Lakshmi Muthusamy hails from Nawalapitiya where she had been a student at Kathiresan Maha Vidyalaya before she married Muthusamy who is from Brunswick Estate, Maskeliya before he settled down in Nattarampotha and started his business with his brother. Said Lakshmi they are now on the look out for a bride for Muralitharan and they are waiting for the right girl.

Muralitharan is the eldest and his brothers are Sritharan, Shashidaran and Prabakaran. Muralitharan's father Muthusamy is a quiet and unassuming person and spends most of the time in the biscuit factory directing the operations and attending to other business matters. Lakshmi acts as the spokeswoman on Murali's matters. It is left to be seen whether Darrel Hair will be in the centre of another 'Hair raising' affair.

Source :: Daily News (https://www.lanka.net)