10 Greatest Test cricketers of all-time

3. Muttiah Muralitharan

The wizard of the emerald isle, Muttiah Muralitharan was rated as the greatest Test bowler ever by the Wisden Cricket Almanack in 2002. Who in the world can argue with that? Whenever Murali spun a web, he would end up getting his desired result and was one of those cricketers who could do magical stuff at will.

Another gentleman par excellence, the only controversy he had to face was the allegations against his action, which many felt was illegitimate. On many occasions, he was abandoned from bowling and had to work tirelessly to satisfy ICC with his action, but no matter how many pauses his career suffered, Murali never lost his form.

He was a pure wicket-taker with a knack of picking five-fers and averaged over 6 wickets a game. In his farewell Test against India, the Lankan maestro picked up 8 wickets, thus becoming the first and only cricketer till date to amass 800 wickets. Interestingly, he played 12 Tests less than Warne but picked up 93 wickets more.

Career stats:

Matches – 133 | Wickets – 800 | Bowling Average – 22.72 | Five-wicket hauls – 67 | 10 wickets in a match – 22