Ace Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan has set to date for his retirement from Test match cricket. Conversing at the end of the first ODI against Pakistan, he announced that he will retire from Test Match at the end of Sri Lanka's home series against West Indies in November 2010.
"I am not going to play for a long time. I am thinking of next year's West Indies series it will be the last two Test matches I will be playing. That's the right time for me because I will be 38 years old. The 2011 World Cup is my ambition, but I will enjoy playing T20 cricket for a few more years," Murali said.
"The toughest game in cricket is Tests. The hardest element is you have to take wickets and get batsmen out and sometimes you have to fritter two days on the field. You have to mentally prepare yourself for every game. In Twenty20, you look to hold the batsmen and he tries some shots and gets out. Fifty-over cricket is also the same. In Test cricket you have to read the batsmen, set the fields properly and get the wickets," he added.
"I put in a lot of stab in the last one month to be fit. I trained very hard with the physio Tommy and trainers Jade and Mario who helped me to get through the complicated period. I also enjoyed the break. I trained hard although I knew my knee was not right," mentioned Muralitharan, who missed out on the test series against Pakistan owing to a knee injury.
"The doctors said that I have to go through with it and train harder. I can't go for an operation because I will be out for six to seven months. That means my career is almost over and that I am not going to play for long. A torn tendon is a very big injury and it will take a long time to cure. The best suggestion was for me to rest for two to three weeks, train hard and play with a little pain. I was prepared to go through with it. The doctors said that I can definitely play with the injury for about one to two years but in the end when I finish I will have to operate on it," he added.
When asked about the possibility of reaching 1000 test wickets, Murali said, "If I am to get 1000 Test wickets we have to play Test matches regularly. These days we play fewer Test matches."
"I am not going to play for a long time. I am thinking of next year's West Indies series it will be the last two Test matches I will be playing. That's the right time for me because I will be 38 years old. The 2011 World Cup is my ambition, but I will enjoy playing T20 cricket for a few more years," Murali said."The toughest game in cricket is Tests. The hardest element is you have to take wickets and get batsmen out and sometimes you have to fritter two days on the field. You have to mentally prepare yourself for every game. In Twenty20, you look to hold the batsmen and he tries some shots and gets out. Fifty-over cricket is also the same. In Test cricket you have to read the batsmen, set the fields properly and get the wickets," he added.
"I put in a lot of stab in the last one month to be fit. I trained very hard with the physio Tommy and trainers Jade and Mario who helped me to get through the complicated period. I also enjoyed the break. I trained hard although I knew my knee was not right," mentioned Muralitharan, who missed out on the test series against Pakistan owing to a knee injury.
"The doctors said that I have to go through with it and train harder. I can't go for an operation because I will be out for six to seven months. That means my career is almost over and that I am not going to play for long. A torn tendon is a very big injury and it will take a long time to cure. The best suggestion was for me to rest for two to three weeks, train hard and play with a little pain. I was prepared to go through with it. The doctors said that I can definitely play with the injury for about one to two years but in the end when I finish I will have to operate on it," he added.
When asked about the possibility of reaching 1000 test wickets, Murali said, "If I am to get 1000 Test wickets we have to play Test matches regularly. These days we play fewer Test matches."
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