Ashwin could get to 800 Test wickets but Nathan Lyon not good enough, feels Muralitharan

On July 22, 2010, more than a decade ago, Muttiah Muralitharan created history by becoming the first ever bowler in Test history to breach the 800-wicket mark. 11 years on, his record remains unruffled, with no one even in the vicinity of his ‘800’. England’s Jimmy Anderson recently moved 200 within Murali by bringing up 600 Test wickets, but the closest active spinner is Nathan Lyon, who is still 404 wickets away from the coveted 800 mark. 

What made and makes Muralitharan’s 800 scalps ludicrous is that he not only played in an era which had some behemoths who were adept at handling spinners masterfully, he also toiled hard on flatter wickets. It is no secret that pitches over the last half-a-decade have been tilted more in favour of the bowlers to produce results. But the maestro feels that, more than the wickets, it is the inability of batsmen which makes it easier for spinners to claim wicket in the modern era. Murali believes that new-gen batsmen ‘cannot stay long without attacking’ due to their feeble technique, and feels this in turn helps spinners pick up a ton of cheap wickets as compared to his days, where he had to toil hard.

“It is guaranteed because batsmen cannot stay for long without attacking. You have a better chance of taking wickets, which is why spinners only have to set the field properly, bowl line and length and let the pitches and batsmen do the rest. Spinners used to have to work hard for wickets which is why they worked hard on developing other deliveries. Now they do that in T20 cricket instead. They bowl different variations because batsmen are coming after them. But in Test cricket you don’t need to do it,” Murali said.