Muttiah Muralitharan launches attack on Sri Lanka Cricket Board, players lend him support

44-year-old Muttiah Muralitharan has launched an extraordinary attack on his country’s cricket board through a recorded video statement, accusing them of being incapable and knowing nothing about cricket, looking for a fall guy because they know they are going to lose the upcoming series, and overturned tables on who can be called a traitor to Sri Lanka.

Muralitharan, the highest wicket-taker in Test history and a legend in Sri Lanka, had been charged by SLC President Thilanga Sumathipala of only damaging his legacy by having agreed to become Australia’s bowling coach against his own country.

“If Sri Lanka loses, they (the board) will say it is because of Murali,” he said in a recorded statement on Monday. “They have no right to accuse me of being a traitor. Have they done one-hundredth of what I have contributed to cricket in Sri Lanka?

“This is a political game to cover their shortcomings. I am being used as a pawn to cover their failings.”

What sparked this outburst is that the SLC President lodged a formal complaint with Cricket Australia alleging that Muralitharan had bullied ground staff at Kandy, his hometown, to let the Australian players practise on the pitch which will be used for the 1^st Test between Sri Lanka and Australia, and that such behaviour was unacceptable.

There has been some anger aimed at Murali in his home country, with some sections of the press labelling him as a traitor to have switched camps at the beginning of the very series which goes by the names of Shane Warne and himself. To have the very icon whose trophy Sri Lanka are playing for to defect has struck some as being hurtful, among them the SLC President.

Muralitharan had a further riposte to make in the recorded video statement, defining what he would define as treachery – “They don’t give an opportunity to talented Sri Lankan coaches and prefer to bring white people from abroad. That affects our economy too because we have to pay them dollars that leave the country. That is treachery.”

South African Graham Ford is currently on a second stint in charge of coaching Sri Lanka.

Meanwhile, some other legends in Sri Lanka cricket have let known their support for Muralitharan. Angelo Mathews said that Murali’s ‘defection’ was a non-issue, Kumar Sangakkara tweeted that it was sad that Muralitharan was having to defend his allegiance to his nation.