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Murali has come a long way towards refuting the claims against his success, taking huge match bags in most parts of the world. He has however, had limited success in Australia the reasons for this being all too clear. Since Darrel Hair “threw” him under a cloud in 1995, he is a constant target by the media and the crowds in Australia in a hitherto successful campaign at getting under his radar mentally, although he will not openly admit being a victim of it.

Muttiah Muralitharan’s spiralling thrust to yet more fame and glory appears to be fast gaining momentum after a series of devastating spells of off-spin that first had the Englishmen and then the South Africans comprehensively bamboozled.

Sri Lanka’s spin wizard of the cricket world who has achieved what no other bowler in the world has ---four consecutive ten wicket hauls, TWICE, has propelled himself towards the world record he once held. He is now 28 wickets shy of the new record currently held by Australian Shane Warne, but remains on course to recapture the title as the most prolific wicket-taker in world cricket.

Murali’s four consecutive 10-wicket hauls first in England during the recent last two Tests where he expertly dragged the Lankans from a disastrous first Test loss to draw and win the final Test and level the series. It was then followed by two more hauls that helped destroy South Africa 2-0. His effort matched the previous blitz against India, Bangladesh and the West Indies (2) in the 2001/2 season where he established the previous all-time best performance by any bowler in world cricket. Cricket pundits around the globe are transfixed with the titanic tussle between Murali and Warne, the proverbial “Goliaths” of spin and the split in opinion almost decidedly is causing a rift between cricketing nations in Asia and the rest.

Hair has continued to project himself above the game with his latest episode of accusing the Pakistanis of ball tampering and consequent forfeiture of the game when the team failed to emerge from the dressing room after the tea break. Any official who regarded the game as the real focal point would have dealt with the situation differently. But Hair in his own inimitable style chose to hog the limelight for himself.

If anything, Hair’s latest stunt could have the game’s rulebook rewritten again. His last attempt to discredit Murali and wrench away from the world the best spinner ever seen, only exposed all bowlers including Brett Lee,Glen McGrath and Jason Gillespie to name a few, all found to be in breach of the stipulated legal limit of their arm extensions.

The less said about Darrel Hair the better, because he has now proved to the world of cricket, his true motives for wanting to make decisions outside the game’s better interests.

Naturally the Aussies are backing their man while throwing in unacceptable theories and often indulging in innuendo in an attempt to downgrade Murali’s unforgettable exploits by decreeing Hair as a hero for no-balling him in 1995 for “Chucking”.

It is humourous however, to read the dogged defence by scribes here in Australia, particularly in the Melbourne Herald Sun, who have since his infamous email to the ICC, been steadfastly trying to vindicate his purely selfish and now apparently pre-meditated actions. But there are those who also expertly negate Warne’s performances too, citing his often disruptive off-field manner, help from “friendly” umpires and pointing to the evidence that he has played 33 more Tests than Murali to get where he is..The pros and cons of both bowlers, who it must be said are without doubt the best the world has ever seen in their differing style of spin, are mostly media made, the rest made up from the opinions of ex-players and the cricketing public. It certainly makes interesting reading though.

Much of the claims against Murali is centred around the fact that he has captured most of his wickets on slow turning sub-continental tracks. The counter claim against Warne’s achievements is that has often extracted his victims with the help of very accommodating Aussie umpires, or through intimidating umpires, with vociferous appealing that has got him a large proportion of his wickets. Unlike Murali , Warne is made of sterner stuff. He continues to defy all logic by refusing to relent to media hype about his off-field antics. Quite unperturbed by the consequences of his actions notably losing his family life with ex-wife Simone and his kids, he just goes on with his cricket without a glitch mentally or physically. Despite conceding the Ashes to England on their last tour, Warne continued to be nearly unplayable taking that form through against New Zealand and South Africa.

Immaterial of all those claims, and despite the incessant throw of poison darts at them, the duo yet remain the best of their trade and their feats may never be repeated or surpassed in the forseeable future.

From Sri Lanka’s point of view though, Muttiah Muralitharan will remain as the best thing that has emerged from the island nation in their 25 –year stint since receiving test status. And, if it has not happened yet, his name will undoubtedly written in the country’s folklore before too long.