5 players that Sri Lanka have not been able to replace

#2 Muttiah Muralitharan

Muttiah Muralitharan is undisputedly the greatest bowler Sri Lanka has ever produced

Muttiah Muralitharan is by far the greatest off-spinner the game has ever seen and has been synonymous with the rise of Sri Lankan cricket since the early nineties. Often called as the smiling assassin, Murali, as he is known in cricket circles, had bamboozled batsmen all over the world with his off breaks and had created ripples in the cricketing world with his mastery over the ‘doosra’.

Many batsmen found it hard to pick him and regard him as the toughest bowler they’ve ever faced. Murali was a true gentleman of the game and is idolised by many aspiring off spinners across the globe. He ended up with over 1300 international wickets and is the highest Test and ODI wicket taker of all time.

Unfortunately, as it was expected, Sri Lanka has not been successful in finding an off-spinner who could be at least half as threatening as him in the shorter formats. Ajantha Mendis promised a lot initially but gradually faded away.

Many promising right-arm off break bowlers such as Suraj Randiv, Sachitra Senanayake and Dilruwan Perera have lacked the fizz and consistency in their bowling and haven’t been much successful in troubling the batsmen. We need to wait and see if Sri Lanka does manage to find a consistent potent weapon in the spin department of the shorter formats.