Muttiah Muralitharan completes 450 Test wickets by Rajesh Kumar

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Scorecard:	Sri Lanka v New Zealand
Player:	M Muralitharan

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When Muttiah Muralitharan dismissed Daryl Tuffey in New Zealand's second innings in the second Test at Kandy on May 7, he claimed his 450th wicket in Test Cricket.

He is the first bowler from Sri Lanka and the third bowler after Courtney Walsh (West Indies) and Shane Warne (Australia) to have achieved the feat. Murali's feat of claiming 450 wickets in 80 Tests is the fastest in the history of Test Cricket. Shane Warne took 101 Tests and Courtney Walsh 118 Tests for their respective 450 wickets. The bowling record of the top three bowlers in brief is as under:

    Wickets Tests  Ave. Tests to 450   Bowler
      519    132  24.25     118        Courtney Walsh (WI)
      491    107  25.71     101        Shane Warne (A)
      450     80  23.56      80        Muttiah Muralitharan (SL)

Muttiah Muralitharan, by claiming 5 wickets in New Zealand's second innings, established a world record for bagging 5 or more wickets in an innings 37 times in Tests, surpassing New Zealand's Richard Hadlee's feat of taking 5 wickets in an innings 36 times.

The country-wise bowling record of Muralitharan in Test Cricket is as under:

Opponents     Mt.Balls  Md.  Runs Wkts. Ave.  Best  5WI 10WM S.Rate
Australia     7  1838   46    922   22  41.91  5/71   1  -  83.55
Bangladesh    2   539   22    209   20  10.45  5/13   4  2  26.95
Pakistan     12  3743  147   1622   68  23.85  6/71   4  1  55.04
South Africa 12  4530  176   1747   77  22.69  7/84   8  2  58.83
England       7  3221  154   1111   43  25.84  9/65   3  1  74.91
India        12  3822  152   1680   51  32.94  8/87   3  1  74.94
West Indies   6  1989   89    830   44  18.86  6/81   5  2  45.20
Zimbabwe     12  4220  238   1248   73  17.10  9/51   5  2  57.81
New Zealand  10  3216  161   1232   52  23.69  5/30   4  -  61.85
   Total:     80 27118 1185  10601  450  23.56  9/51  37 11  60.26
 
     Home:   46 15856  711   5915  283  20.90  9/51  25  8  56.03
     Away:   34 11262  474   4686  167  28.06  9/65  12  3  67.44

Performance after every 15 Tests:

                    Balls  Runs  Wkts.  Ave.  S.R.   Best 5WI 10WM 
After 15 Tests:       3875  1738    55  31.60  70.45  5/101 3   0
After 30 Tests:       8124  3526   123  28.67  66.05  6/98  9   0
After 45 Tests:      13888  5811   218  26.66  63.71  9/65 17   2
After 60 Tests:      19463  7847   310  25.31  62.78  9/65 24   5
After 75 Tests:      25268  9932   420  23.65  60.16  9/51 34  10
current: 80 Tests    27118 10601   450  23.56  60.26  9/51 37  11

Muralitharan - Before and After chucking:

           Tests Balls Runs  Wkts. Ave. Best 5WI 10WM S.R.
Before      22   5871   2621  80  32.76 5/64  5   -  73.39
After       58  21247   7980 370  21.57 9/51 32  11  57.42

Batsmen dismissed by Muralitharan quite often:

10 times:  G.W.Flower    (Zimb.)
 9 times:  M.V.Boucher   (S.Af.)
 9 times:  Waqar Younis  (Pakistan)
 8 times:  Yousuf Youhana(Pakistan)
 7 times:  D.J.Cullinan  (S.Af.)
 6 times:  J.N.Rhodes    (S.Af.)

Mode of Dismissals:

Bowled:                    112
Caught by fielders:        206
Caught by Wicketkeepers:    24
Caught & Bowled:            17
Stumped:                    21
LBW:                        69
Hit Wicket:                  1
                Total:     450

(Article: Copyright © 2003 Rajesh Kumar)