#2 Muttiah Muralitharan (Feb 2000-Dec 2008)
Matches – 76, Wickets – 539, Avg – 19.76, 5WI – 49, 10W – 20
By the sheer strength of his numbers, Muralitharan can safely be regarded as the ‘Bradman of bowling’. Perhaps the most amazing aspect of his peak form is the fact that it lasted for almost 9 years.
In the 76 tests that he played during that period, Muralitharan took more than 7 wickets per match. Even more startling is his performance in wins; in the 36 Tests that Sri Lanka won in this period, Muralitharan took 317 (47%) of the total wickets taken by Sri Lankan bowlers, that’s a rate of almost 9 wickets per match.
And if even this is not enough, fancy this fact - in the 142 innings that he bowled in during this period, Murali went wicket-less in only 3 of them. One can safely make a case for Muralitharan being perhaps the greatest match winner since the Second World War.
(Video Courtesy: Tanveer Ahmad YouTube Channel)
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