After targetting Indian cricketers, former Australian vice-captain Adam Gilchrist has now set his sights on the Sri Lankans and has alleged that spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan bowled with an illegal action. In his autobiography 'True Colours of My Life', Gilchrist further accused the International Cricket Council (ICC) of changing the rules of the game to accommodate Muralitharan after the Sri Lankan authorities interpreted questioning of his bowling action as a racial attack.
''Does Murali chuck the ball? I thought for a few moments, and then said, cautiously: 'I think he does','' Gilchrist wrote, referring to a question posed to him.
''I say that because, if you read the laws of the game, there's no doubt in my mind that he and many others throughout cricket history have,'' he added.
''This reached an absurd point when the laws were changed to accommodate him. When I heard that the rules would now allow degree of straightening - 15 degrees to be exact, a fraction more than Murali's straightening had been measured at - I thought 'That's a load of horse crap. That's rubbish.'' Muralitharan has a history of confrontations with Australian players who have repeatedly questioned the legality of the off-spinner's action. This reached the boiling point during Sri Lanka's tour of Australia in 1999.
''It got even worse in 1999 when Murali was again no-balled in Australia and Ranatunga tried to take his team off the Adelaide Oval. Ranatunga was charged under the ICC Code of conduct, but turned up to his hearing with lawyers who argued that as the ICC match referee brought the charge, the same guy could not also sit in judgments on it,'' Gilchrist said.
''Legally this was true, but morally it was a landmark moment, a direct attack on the spirit of the game... the Sri Lankans seemed to be saying 'If you hold Murali to the laws, we're going to tear the whole game apart'.'' The former stumper went on to question Murali's famous 'doosra' delivery, and alleged that the ICC appeared to have passed it without the required level of examination.
''His doosra, the ball which spins away from the right-hander and attracted new scrutiny in 2004, seemed to be passed without any rigorous examination,'' Gilchrist felt.
''Often Australian players, having seen him bowl yet another suspect doosra past the outside edge, would look at each other in changing room and say: 'Wasn't that one meant to have been sorted out?'' The 36-year-old further accused the legendary off-spinner of spoiling the Test career of many batsmen.
''Nobody seemed to spare much thought for the batsmen playing Murali. Because he was so potent, guys were losing there wickets, and eventually losing their Test careers in some cases -- because of this bowler,'' Gilchrist quipped.
''As much as I like Murali, my sympathies lay more with those batsmen, from every other nation, whose careers suffered because of a bowler who was in technical breach of the rules and seemed to enjoy a kind of political protection.'' Muralitharan is the leading wicket taker in the history of Test cricket and is one of the finest bowlers produced by Sri Lanka. He has claimed 756 Test wickets from just 123 matches at an astounding rate of nearly six wickets per Test. (Manoramaonline.com)
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