5 legendary cricketers whose jerseys should be retired forever

3. Muttiah Muralitharan

1347. That’s not a year in history or not a random number but it’s the number of international wickets which Muttiah Muralitharan has. To give you an idea how far he is from the rest of his peers, the second on the list is Shane Warne with 1001 wickets. Well, Murali was a wizard of the craft that is spin bowling. The Sri Lankan off-spinner could be called as “everything spinner” because of his variation and ability to adjust and adapt to conditions.

Muralitharan’s record as a bowler is not only staggering but astonishing to an extent as that its longevity surprises everybody. Go around and take a look any expert’s all-time world XI across the globe, you would find at him at number 10 or 11 as the lone spinner.

Such is the credibility and excellence of this man from Kandy, Sri Lanka. He changed the face of Sri Lankan cricket and was at the peak of his powers, the island nation started emerging as a world-class team. Here we are referring to the 1990s when the Lankan side became world champions and established themselves as a world competitor.

Truly Muralitharan is a legend of the game and would go down as one of the best ever to have taken the field. But his legacy will live with the fact that he took 1347 International wickets, more than anybody on the planet. Considering, the stats of the current players, it’s hard to believe that anybody would go on to break the record set by this legendary man.

Muralitharan had two sets of jersey numbers. One of them would be the iconic, 08 which he wore for the most number of times. However, after 800 Test wickets, becoming the first and only man to do so, he had the jersey number 800 in a lot of franchise league matches. Maybe, it would be a suiting tribute to this legend to retire either of his jersey numbers.