India vs Australia: R Ashwin can get to 800 Test wickets, Nathan Lyon not good enough- Muttiah Muralitharan
Sri Lanka spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan believes that R Ashwin has a chance to get close to his record because he is a ‘great bowler’ and says that he does not see Nathan Lyon getting there as ‘he is not good enough’.
In Short
- Sri Lanka spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan retired with 800 Test wickets
- Ashwin has 377 Test wickets while Nathan Lyon has 396 wickets
- Nathan Lyon has only taken 6 wickets in 3 Tests against India
The Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in Australia has been an exciting one with both teams tied at 1-1 with the final Test in Brisbane to begin on Friday.
Two of the bowlers who have been under spotlight from the start of the series have been India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and Australia spinner Nathan Lyon. The success of the two is closely related to the way their team goes on to perform.
Sri Lanka spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan, who retired with 800 Test wickets, is one of the best spinners, the world has ever seen. The legend is the highest wicket-taker in Test cricket and believes that Ashwin has a chance to get close to his record because he is a ‘great bowler’ and says that he does not see Lyon getting there as ‘he is not good enough’.
"Ashwin [who has 377 Test wickets] has a chance because he is a great bowler. Other than that, I don't think any younger bowler coming in will go to 800. Maybe Nathan Lyon is not good enough to reach it. He is close to 400 [396] but he has had to play many, many matches to get there,” Muttiah Muralitharan told The Sydney Morning Herald.
Easier for bowlers to take wickets now, says Muralitharan
Muralitharan also said that it has become easier for the bowlers to get wickets nowadays.
"The problem in Test cricket is that T20s and one-day internationals have changed the dynamics. When I played, the batsmen were technically so good and wickets were flat; now, they try to finish matches in three days.
"The bowlers in my day had to do extra work to get spin and do something magic to get results. Nowadays, if you bowl line and length over a period of time, you will get five wickets. 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.