'Give me your wicket and go' - Muttiah Muralitharan reveals his hilarious chat with Ishant Sharma before taking 800th Test wicket

India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has been pretty active on social media amid the pandemic. While staying away from the field, Ashwin has conducted many Q&A sessions on his Twitter and many interviews on his show ‘DRS With Ash’.

Ashwin’s recent guest on the show was Sri Lankan veteran and legend of the game, Muttiah Muralitharan. 33-year-old Ashwin hurled many questions at the legendary spinners and they had a candid chat over many on-field as well as off field-incidents. Muralitharan opened up on MS Dhoni’s greatness as a captain. He also recalled the historic moment when he reached the milestone of 800 Test scalps.

Muralitharan attained the feat of 800 Test scalps during India-Sri Lanka Galle Test in 2010. Sri Lanka were on the top and required the last Indian wicket. At the same time, the veteran off-spinner was also stranded on 799 scalps with tailenders Ishant Sharma and Pragyan Ojha in the middle.

India is not going to draw or win: Muralitharan told Ishant Sharma

Recalling the moment, Ashwin told Muralitharan that Ojha claimed he gave away his wicket on purpose to help Murali reach the iconic landmark. However, it resulted in everyone in the dressing room trolling Ojha for his baseless claim.

Muralitharan responded by saying that he didn’t have a chat with Ojha in the middle. However, he had told Ishant Sharma to start playing shots and give his wicket as India was on the verge of a defeat.

Ashwin recalled the instance as he said, “Ojha said that he gave away his wicket on purpose, considering Murali’s stature and the landmark. Everybody trolled him in the dressing room. Even if you hadn’t ‘purposely’ thrown your wicket away, Murali would have got you the next ball.”

“I didn’t say anything to Pragyan Ojha, I told Ishant Sharma during the water break ‘Ishant, just start playing shots. It’s the last wicket. Despite all this, India is not going to draw or win. Give me your wicket and go. At least I will be satisfied,” Muralitharan responded.

Talking about the Test, Sri Lanka was able to amass a dominant 520-run total on the scoreboard. In reply, India were all-out for 276 in the first innings and were reduced to 314/9 while following-on. Ojha and Ishant were glued to the wicket for 15.2 overs before Muralitharan scalped Ojha’s wicket to reach the unbelievable 800-wicket landmark.

Muralitharan, till date, remains the leading wicket-taker in Tests as well as the one with most international scalps (1347). In an illustrious career which started from 1992, Muralitharan donned the Sri Lanka jersey in 133 Tests, 350 ODIs and 12 T20Is. Apart from him, only Shane Warne has been successful in scalping more than 1000 international wickets in his career.

Here’s the clip: