Muttiah Muralitharan heads to Australia for a short-term stint

Sri Lanka might get a dose of their own medicine as the most successful spinner and one of the most loved sons of the land, Muttiah Muralitharan heads to Australia to help their slower bowlers ahead of the three-Test series against Sri Lanka beginning at Pallekele later this month.

With 800 Test wickets against his name, he is undoubtedly one of the best spinners the cricketing world has witnessed. He had a similar short-term consulting stint with Australia in 2014. “Murali’s got a lot of experience in Sri Lanka,” Australia captain Steve Smith said. “He took a truckload of wickets.”

“It’s great to have someone like that helping our spinners in this series – to give us that insight. He’s been really good around the group so far, and he’s enjoying his time with us,” Smith added.

Muralitharan who was working with Australian spinners Nathan Lyon and Steve O’Keefe in the nets said that he is looking for short-term jobs so that he can spend enough time with his family as well. “I’m not involved in Sri Lankan cricket at all because there are (other) people who are involved,” Muralitharan told Cricket Australia website.

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“Then, on and off, Australia offered me twice so I said ‘why not’ because you are passing on the knowledge to other people. It doesn’t matter whether it’s your country or other people. I think giving quality time to my family is most important, that’s why I take smaller jobs – two weeks, three weeks… those sorts of jobs are not available in Sri Lanka.”

Australia will play three Tests, five one-dayers, and two Twenty20 Internationals starting from July 26.

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