Spin legend Muttiah Muralitharan said he sees only India’s Ashwin Ravichandran coming close to his record of 800 Test wickets among the current crop of spinners.
The Sri Lankan added that Australia’s Nathan Lyon, who plays his 100th Test on Friday, will need to play many more matches to get there and it still may not be enough.
Muralitharan’s record of 800 Test wickets remains a near insurmountable peak with Shane Warne (708) and Anil Kumble (619) rounding up the top-three wicket-takers in the longest format.
“Ashwin has a chance because he is a great bowler. 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 but he has had to play many, many matches to get there,” Muralitharan was quoted as saying in a Michael Vaughan coloumn for the London-based Telegraph.
Ashwin has 377 wickets in 74 Tests at an average of 25.53 while Lyon, among the best Australian spinners of all-time, averages 31.98 in 99 Tests. He is four shy of the 400-wicket mark.
Leaving aside Ashwin and Lyon, there is a dearth of world-class spinners in the modern game. The Sri Lankan great put that worrying trend down to change in batsmen’s approach compared to his playing days.
“The problem in Test cricket is that Twenty20s and one-day internationals have changed the dynamics.
“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.”
