Babar Azam is one of the better batters of spin: Muttiah Muralitharan

Legendary Sri Lanka cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan was known for bamboozling opposition batters on any pitch and conditions. His variations coupled with an unorthodox action would be hard to pick even for the best batters. Hence when the former Lankan off-spinner was asked who he thought would pick his variations easily, the 51-year-old took the name of Pakistan skipper Babar Azam.

Apart from Azam, Murali also picked star batter, Virat Kohli. It’s no surprise as both the batters are apt in playing spin well. While the former deploys sweep and reverse sweep to good effect, the latter is good at using his feet well against the spinners. 

Add to that, both players are used to playing in the conditions which predominately favor spin and, hence Murali feels these two batters could have played him well. “Kohli would have been tough as he is a good player of spin,” said Murali. “Babar Azam, I’ve never seen but looks like one of the better players because he is from the subcontinent,” Murali told ESPNCricinfo.

The former off-spinner further opined that former India opener Virender Sehwag could have hurt him with his ability to bat aggressively at the top. It’s a known fact that Sehwag used to thrive on spin bowling by walking down the track and dispatching the bowlers with utter disdain. Time and again whenever the spin was employed by opposition teams, Sehwag would play in top gear.

Muttiah Muralitharan feels Sachin Tendulkar had a small weakness against off-spin

Although Sachin Tendulkar is widely regarded as one of the best batters to have ever played the game, Murali opines that the master blaster had a slight weakness in picking off-spin due to him not attacking the way he used to play leg-spin while he was at his prime. “I felt in my career, Sachin had a small weakness against off-spin. With leg-spin, he smashes but off-spin somehow he had the difficulty because I got him out so many times. And lots of off-spinners also got him so many times, I have seen it,” he pointed.

The battle between Murali and Tendulkar was always fascinating to the viewers.