Muttiah Muralitharan made a big reveal about legendary India batter Rahul Dravid in front of Sachin Tendulkar at the trailer launch event of his biopic ‘800’.
The legendary Sri Lankan played international cricket from 1992-2011 and holds the record for most wickets in ODIs and Tests. He has a total of 1347 wickets to his name with 800 of them coming in Test matches, while he took 534 scalps in ODIs. He also took 13 wickets in T20Is.
And his incredible cricketing journey is set to come alive on the big screen as the trailer for his biographical film, '800,' was unveiled earlier this week.
The trailer launch event was attended by one of Muralitharan's former Sri Lankan teammates and legendary all-rounder Sanath Jayasuriya, as well as his famous adversary, batting great Sachin Tendulkar.
The trio shared stories from their playing days, particularly about competing against each other. Muralitharan then spoke about which batters from India could pick his spin and who couldn’t.
Surprisingly, Rahul Dravid’s name was amongst the batters Murali said couldn’t pick him. He also named former West Indies captain Brian Lara in the list as well, who failed to read his deliveries.
Dravid boasted of an average of 48.64, scoring three centuries in 20 Tests against Sri Lanka while Lara had an even better record, averaging 86.53 in 8 Tests, scoring five tons.
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“I know he (Tendulkar) read me very well. Not many people could do that. Brian Lara had success but he never read me. I don't know what mechanism he had. I know Rahul Dravid, he's one of the greatest players, (but) he never read me. I knew that! Sachin, (Virender) Sehwag, (Gautam) Gambhir, and some others could read me, others would just play me. Even in my team, some people read and some couldn't. Legends like him (Tendulkar), he could watch the seam of the ball from the hand itself,” Muralitharan said at the event.
Tendulkar reacted amusingly as Muralitharan spoke about Dravid's failure at reading him and revealed that the Sri Lankan bowler practiced ‘doosra’ in nets for 18 months before unleashing it in international cricket.
"Like he (Muralitharan) said, very few guys could read him. But in that also, he wanted to develop more things. If I'm not mistaken, he developed ‘doosra’ in the late 90s. And the story that I heard through Harbhajan, was that he knew how to bowl ‘doosra’ way earlier but he used to practice it in the nets. For 18 months, he continued ‘doosra’ in the nets before he tried it in international cricket.
The reason for that was that he should not lose his original strength, the quality that he possessed. While bowling in Test cricket, you have to continue to develop new things, you have to reinvent yourself. Batters also try to figure out what the bowler is trying to do,” Tendulkar said.
Muralitharan returned the compliment.
“What he (Sachin) has done in cricket, nobody can do. It is a fact. It is impossible for someone to get into First-Class cricket at 15 years, getting a Test hundred at 16-17 years (of age). Another Sachin Tendulkar won't be born in my life (time),” Muralitharan added.
(PTI inputs)
