Murali happy to wait for Test record
Saturday, 25 August 2007
Muttiah Muralitharan is not concerned about breaking the world wicket-taking record in Australia in November because he plans to play Tests for another four years.
Muralitharan, who is nine short of overtaking Shane Warne's Test record of 708, said he was "not really focused" on the milestone, but was confident he would reach it eventually.
Sri Lanka are due to play Tests in Brisbane and Hobart, which did not offer slow bowlers much support in the previous domestic season, and Muralitharan said he would need to be "lucky" to capture enough wickets to pass Warne.
"I'm not really focused about that because we're trying to play well and win matches there," he told AAP. "The wickets are good, bouncy. They're supposed to favour fast bowlers but I don't know if it'll be too early in November. So maybe, if I'm lucky, it will spin and I can get some wickets."
Muralitharan said he was not in a rush to own the record. "If I get the wickets, then fine, otherwise I can do it in another series," he said. "I want to play another four years of Test cricket for Sri Lanka, so it'll happen at some moment because I'm just nine wickets away."
In 16 years as a Test off-spinner Muralitharan has captured 700 breakthroughs and if he maintains his annual average over the next four he could add another 175 victims.
Muralitharan, who is nine short of overtaking Shane Warne's Test record of 708, said he was "not really focused" on the milestone, but was confident he would reach it eventually.
Sri Lanka are due to play Tests in Brisbane and Hobart, which did not offer slow bowlers much support in the previous domestic season, and Muralitharan said he would need to be "lucky" to capture enough wickets to pass Warne.
"I'm not really focused about that because we're trying to play well and win matches there," he told AAP. "The wickets are good, bouncy. They're supposed to favour fast bowlers but I don't know if it'll be too early in November. So maybe, if I'm lucky, it will spin and I can get some wickets."
Muralitharan said he was not in a rush to own the record. "If I get the wickets, then fine, otherwise I can do it in another series," he said. "I want to play another four years of Test cricket for Sri Lanka, so it'll happen at some moment because I'm just nine wickets away."
In 16 years as a Test off-spinner Muralitharan has captured 700 breakthroughs and if he maintains his annual average over the next four he could add another 175 victims.