Former Sri Lanka cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan, who retired with 800 Test wickets, feels that apart there aren’t too many top notch off-spinners in world cricket.
"The problem in Test cricket is that T20s and ODIs have changed the dynamics," Murali was quoted as saying by The Sydney Morning Herald.
"When I played, the batsmen were technically so good and wickets were flat; now, they try to finish matches in three days.”
"The bowlers in my day had to do extra work to get spin and do something magic to get results. Nowadays, if you bowl line and length over a period of time, you will get five wickets. It is guaranteed because batsmen cannot stay for long without attacking.”
"You have a better chance of taking wickets, which is why spinners only have to set the field properly, bowl line and length and let the pitches and batsmen do the rest. Spinners used to have to work hard for wickets, which is why they worked hard on developing other deliveries.
"Now they do that in T20 cricket instead. They bowl different variations because batsmen are coming after them. But in Test cricket you don't need to do it."
When asked about who could match up to his 800 wickets, the former ace put his money on R Ashwin.
"Ashwin [who has 377 Test wickets] has a chance because he is a great bowler," says Murali.
"Other than that, I don't think any younger bowler coming in will go to 800. Maybe Nathan Lyon is not good enough to reach it. He is close to 400 [396] but he has had to play many, many matches to get there."
Australia’s Nathon Lyon plays his 100th Test match in Brisbane against India beginning 15 January.
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