The greatest ODI XI of all time

#10 Muttiah Muralitharan

Smiling Assasin – Need a wicket, call me.

Murali is the bowling equipoise of Sachin Tendulkar. The leading wicket-taker in the history of the game is an automatic starter, not just for the records alone but the way he weaves magic with a cricket ball in his hands. He has confused batsmen all over the world with his spin and subtle variations.

While the McGraths and Akrams always had the support of the Lees, Gillespies, Warnes, Waqar Younis and Akhtar from the other end, the story is totally different with Murali. He has often been a one-man army for the Sri Lankan bowling barring little support from Vaas during the early noughties and Malinga during the latter part of that decade. He played both Robin and Batman for the Sri Lankans.

Although the Western Media chooses to be prejudiced about the legality of his action, that will not belittle his achievements and his contributions to our beautiful game of Cricket.

Player	Span	Mat	Inns	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	Ave	Econ	SR	4	5
M Muralitharan	1993-2011	350	341	18811	12326	534	7/30	23.08	3.93	35.2	15	10

Murali has picked up a total of 68 wickets at the cricket World Cup, second only to McGrath’s 71. He has played in 3 World Cup finals in total, losing 2 and winning one in 1996.

Contenders: Shane Warne, Harbhajan Singh, Saqlain Mushtaq and Anil Kumble.