Murali takes 800 with last ball in Test Cricket | Thebigtip

*Authors note:

I was hoping Murali would finish on 799 wickets. It's cruel I know.

This comes from the heart of a massive Shane Warne fan. Their rivarly was one of the great sub-plots of international cricket, and whether Murali took 176 of his wickets against Test match super powers Zimbabwe and Bangladesh is irrelevant (Warne took 17), Murali's achievement is outstanding.

No, I wanted him to stay one short of 800 so that he could again share something with Warnie, who finished his career with one loose end - that Test 99 against New Zealand at the WACA.

Murali gets 800, Sri Lanka win by ten wickets. The Bulletin by Sriram Veera at cricinfo.com

At the start of his final Test, he was eight wickets short of entering territory that no other cricketer had. He began his last day in Test cricket needing two, and took one. His partner threatened to take everything else and he could do nothing but keep on bowling, and wait. The umpire denied him a palpable lbw. VVS Laxman, who kept him at bay for so many hours, ran himself out and there was only one wicket left to take. He waited and perhaps even fretted. He nearly ran out the last pair himself, twice. After 23 wicketless overs, with perhaps growing doubt about whether it would come at all, the moment arrived, and Muttiah Muralitharan was there, where no man had gone before. The long wait for the 800th wicket only exemplified the toil that went into the preceding 799. And by the way, Sri Lanka won his farewell Test too, by ten wickets for the seventh time.

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