World leading bowler Muttiah Muralitharan has said he will retire from Test cricket at the end of Sri Lanka's home series against West Indies in November 2010. The Sri Lankan off-spinner, who is record holder in both Tests and One-Day International cricket, plans to continue in the shorter forms of the game.
“I'm thinking next year's Test series against West Indies in September will be my last," Muralitharan said after Sri Lanka's 36-run win against Pakistan in the opening ODI in Dambulla in which was named man of the match for scoring 33 with the bat and picked up 2-46. "But I still want to play on if I can to the 2011 World Cup."
Muralitharan, 37, has struggled in recent years with a knee injury that ruled him out recently concluded Test series against Pakistan. "I put in a lot of effort in the past month to get fit," Muralitharan said. "The doctors told me I have to go through the pain and train harder because an operation will mean me being out for six to seven months.”
"They think I'll be able to play for one to two years and told me to have the operation when I finish playing. That means my career is almost over and I am not going to play for long.”
Muralitharan made his Test debut in 1992 and became the highest wicket-taker in Tests when he broke Australian Shane Warne's record haul of 708 in 2007. He has picked up 770 test wickets in 127 matches at 22 runs per wicket and could become the first player to claim 800. “The hardest game in cricket is Tests. The hardest part is you have to take wickets and get batsmen out and sometimes you have to spend two days on the field. You have to mentally prepare yourself for every game.”
He however decided to play ODIs and Twenty20 Internationals, and he will be aiming to play in his fifth World Cup, held in Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka in 2011. “In Twenty20, you look to contain the batsmen and he tries some shots and gets out. Fifty-over cricket is also the same. In Test cricket you have to read the batsmen, set the fields properly and get the wickets."
Muralitharan is the third player in recent weeks who has opted to conclude his Test career to compete in the shorter format, after fellow Sri Lankan teammate Chaminda Vaas and England's Andrew Flintoff.
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