Sri Lanka not looking for ‘next Muralitharan’, says Sangakkara

Any effort to find another Muttiah Muralitharan would prove futile, wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara has said.

Benoni (South Africa): Any effort by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) to find another Muttiah Muralitharan would prove futile as cricket will never see a bowler like the legendary off-spinner, wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara has said.

“You get one Murali and that’s about it really. Again it’s important for us to come to terms with that. We’re not looking for the next Murali, we’re looking for the next best spinner to come and win games for us,” Sangakkara said in an interview. “He might not take 800 wickets, but I think the guys we have on tour are good enough to do that job for us. Murali was probably one of the slowest bowlers to 200 Test wickets, they’re not born overnight. It comes from years and years of hard work,” he added. Averaging over six wickets per Test, Muralitharan was one of the most successful bowlers in the game. He is the highest wicket-taker in both Test cricket and in ODIs. Muralitharan announced his retirement from Test cricket after the first Test against India at Galle in July 2010. During that match he became the first to reach the milestone of taking 800 Test wickets by dismissing Pragyan Ojha. ANI