Muttiah Muralitharan, the Sri Lankan spinning legend, has announced he will retire from Test cricket after the first Test against India starting on July 18.
Undoubedly one of the greatest players of all time, Muralitharan has taken 792 wickets in 132 Tests and 515 wickets in 337 one-day internationals since making his Test debut against Australia in 1992.
“Murali took a decision to retire from Test cricket during the West Indies series in November but with an unscheduled Indian series coming up he has fast-tracked his retirement from Test cricket,” Kushil Gunasekara, his manager, said.
“The selectors want Murali to consider himself to be available for the 2011 World Cup which Sri Lanka is partly hosting with India and Bangladesh.”
The 38-year-old off-spinner is unlikely