Muttiah Muralitharan has decided to call it quits. The genial off-spinner from Sri Lanka has announced that the first Test match at Galle against India will also be his last one and he will not play Test matches after that. End of an era>
Muralitharan also said that he will be available to play for the World Cup that will be played next year, but that is subject to the selectors wanting him to be around.
Muralitharan met up with the chief of selectors for Sri Lankan cricket, Aravinda de Silva, and informed them of his decision. He was coaxed to stay on till the end of the series but Muralitharan refused saying that he would not be able to do justice to his position in the side.
Last year, Mualitharan had said that he will not play beyond this year in the Test matches and that the Tests against West Indies later this year will be his last. However, he had also said that he may not survive till that time.
Muralitharan has said that he will not play all the ODIs between now and the World Cup in 2011, but if the selectors think that he is required for the tournament, he will be selected.
Muralitharan has 792 wickets off 132 tests and 515 in the 337 ODIs that he went on to play.