So, the greatest off spinner ever Muttiah Muralitharan has finally bid adieu to Test match cricket after playing his last match at his favourite venue Galle against the Indians. It was a fairy tale ending to his much celebrated Test career, as he went on to grab those eight wickets to reach a phenomenal landmark of 800 test wickets. There by, becoming the only bowler to have achieved that feat. And that he contributed to his teams victory, was an icing on the cake for him. Looking back the great Murali could not have written the script any better.
So, the greatest off spinner ever Muttiah Muralitharan has finally bid adieu to Test match cricket after playing his last match at his favourite venue Galle against the Indians. It was a fairy tale ending to his much celebrated Test career, as he went on to grab those eight wickets to reach a phenomenal landmark of 800 test wickets. There by, becoming the only bowler to have achieved that feat. And that he contributed to his teams victory, was an icing on the cake for him. Looking back the great Murali could not have written the script any better.
And the Sri Lankan team has been extremely blessed in this factor, as they have Ajantha Mendis, Rangana Herath and Suraj Randiv coming up the ranks.
Mendis, Randiv and Herath have all played fair amount of cricket, to take up the responsibility of shouldering the Lankan spin attack. The three of them even played in the Tests against the Indians and put on an impressive performance by picking up wickets at regular intervals.
So now, let’s look at how these three spinners have evolved since their first appearance for their national side.
Ajantha Mendis announced his arrival into the international cricket, after he completely destroyed the Indian batting line up in the Asia cup finals in 2008, and then again bamboozled the Indian batters on their tour of the emerald islands in the same year. The Indian batsmen couldn't’t come to terms with his barrage of carrom balls, the quicker ones and of course the googlies. And it left them in dire straits.
But over a period of time, the Indians have solved the Mendis Mystery and are far more comfortable negotiating him. But having said that, he is still able to make inroads into any batting line up. He also bowled a superb spell against the Indians in a warm up match before the Test matches started, and he once again had them in trouble picking 6 wickets in one innings. Despite such a good show, he was strangely ignored for the first Test by the selectors, and then was brought back for the second, after Murali decided to leave the stage. Mendis, was in action once again as picked up 4 wickets in the first innings, with important scalps of Laxman and Raina.
Mendis is not a prodigious turner of the cricket ball, but it’s his accuracy and his deception in the air and of the wicket, that makes him a very difficult customer to contend in conditions conducive to spin bowling.
Meanwhile, Rangana Herath is another spinner who, after much struggle early in his career seems to be cementing his place in the Sri Lankan line up.
Herath ever since the time he made his debut in the Tests for his team more than a decade ago, has been in and out of the squad for various reasons. Whenever an opportunity was presented to Herath, he did reasonably well for his side especially in home conditions, and let’s not forget that he always had to live under the shadows of Muralitharan. This certainly wouldn’t have been easy. Time and again Herath was dropped, as he couldn’t produce the goods that his senior colleague Murali could. But Herath consistently kept doing well in the domestic circuit and was knocking on the door of the selectors.
But, of late he has been featuring regularly for the Lankans in the Test matches. And has added the carrom ball and the quicker delivery to his bowling repertoire. Now that Murali’s gone, Herath is probably the most experienced spinner left in the Lankan squad. So, obviously he has to respond well to the situation, and at the same time should help in guiding the young spinners in the squad.
The second and the third test match against the Indian’s saw another exciting lanky spinner in Suraj Randiv come to the fore. Suraj comes across as an orthodox offie, with a neat action, who relies more on his spin and guile to beat the batsmen, and with his height, he is able to get the extra bounce, which the batsmen don’t like.
Suraj played fifteen ODI’s before getting a chance in the Tests. But, he waited for his time and when he was given the opportunity to play, he did not disappoint his captain and the selectors. Although, he did get only a couple of wickets in his first test, but mind you none of the bowlers in either side managed to do well, as the pitch in SSC Colombo was a graveyard for the bowlers. But Randiv immediately, put up a stellar performance in the last match of the series by picking up 9 wickets in the match. He pouched 4 wickets in the first innings, and claimed all the 5 Indian wickets to fall in the second innings. His dismissals included the priced scalps of Sehwag, Dravid, and above all, of the master Tendulkar. His team may not have won the match despite his splendid bowling, but his ability to create problems for the batters was clearly evident.
No doubt, that Murali’s absence will be felt by the Sri Lankan team, but having said that, the three spinners are capable of carrying the work load in the future, and they certainly have all the accolades to produce results for their team. It remains to be seen, how well these three spinners are able to complement each other, when they are operating together.
But the bigger challenge for all the three spin bowlers will be to get wickets when they are playing on foreign soil. Especially on the Australian, English and South African wickets, where historically the Sri Lankan spinners have struggled. The talent and the ability is very eminent in them, but they will have to show a lot of character and most importantly a lot of patience to prevail in those conditions. For the moment though, the future of Sri Lankan spin bowling is certainly in the good hands of Mendis, Herath and Randiv.
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