Feb 07 2009
Greatest Assets Of The Sub Continent-Murali & Sachin
Recently, Muttiah Muralitharan became the highest wicket taker in the history of one day internationals, surpassing Wasim Akram’s tally of 502 wickets. This was one more feather in the cap of Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan, who has till date has had almost all the bowling records in the world and would be alive for a long period. Of course a record has to be broken one day or the other and Muralitharan’s would be no exception whatsoever. So would be Sachin Tendulkar’s, which has almost all the batting records. The records that Murali has achieved in bowling department is equivalent to that gained by Sachin in the batting department.
If Sachin Tendulkar holds the record for the highest aggregate runs in both forms of international cricket, Muralitharan enjoys being the highest wicket taker in both forms of the game. If Sachin Tendulkar can boast of having a record for scoring the maximum number of hundreds in both forms of the game, Muralitharan can boast of having the highest 5 wicket and 10 wicket hauls in tests and the maximum number of 4 wicket hauls in one day internationals. Of course, Sachin Tendulkar has played more matches than Murali in both forms of the game. But, this doesn’t come under either batting or bowling records.
And some yet-to-be achieved feats of Sachin Tendulkar include the highest individual score in both tests as well as one day internationals, which is now held by Brian Lara (400*) and Saeed Anwar (194) respectively. On the other side, Muttiah Muralitharan does not hold the record of the best bowling performance in both the tests as well as the one day internationals, for they are owned by Anil Kumble (10-74) & Jim Laker in tests (10-58) and Chaminda Vass (8-19) respectively. If Sachin Tendulkar has not yet scored a triple hundred in test cricket, Muralitharan has not yet taken a hattrick in test cricket either.
This shows that both Muralitharan and Sachin Tendulkar have balances not only when it comes to achievements but also when it comes to not-yet-achieved tasks. Muttiah Muralitharan is not the bowler at present who has the highest 5 wicket hauls in one day cricket. He is 3 behind Waqar Younis who has 13 such hauls. So is Tendulkar who doesn’t enjoy being the batsmen who has the maximum number of double hundreds in test cricket. Because his 5 double hundreds is way behind Sir Donald Bradman’s 12 double hundreds. But, one thing is for sure. Both Sachin Tendulkar and Muralitharan would have bagged most of the batting and bowling records respectively when they retire, which would not be possible for any player in the near future to even dare come closer to them.
