Muralitharan's grandmother had died one month
earlier at the age of 97.
Muralitharan's manager, Kushil Gunasekera stated that"Murali's
family is closely knit and united.
Muralitharan's grandmother had passed away one
month earlier at the age of 97.
Muralitharan was sent for further tests in Perth
and England and was cleared again.
The Australians, especially Adam Gilchrist, attacked Muralitharan's bowling more than usual that day.
Muralitharan's best ODI bowling performances-
A list of four or more wickets in a match.
In July 2004 Muralitharan was filmed in England, bowling with an arm brace on.
Muralitharan was selected as the Wisden Leading Cricketer
in the World in 2000 and in 2006.
Muralitharan was subsequently instructed by Sri Lanka
Cricket not to bowl the doosra in international cricket.
Collectively Sri Lankan
bowlers tallied 1968 wickets across that span, of which Muralitharan accounted for 40.4.
At the 2011 IPL Player Auction Muralitharan was bought by Kochi Tuskers Kerala for US$1.1 million.
In response to this episode Muralitharan was quoted as saying"When you come to Australia,
you expect such incidents.
After an outstanding year Muralitharan was adjudged as the Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World in 2006.
Muttiah Muralitharan was left out of the Sri Lankan one-day
squad to tour West Indies in April 2008.
However, two years earlier, Muralitharan was not named as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Century.
Ranatunga was thoroughly convinced that Muralitharan's precocious talent would signal a new
era in Sri Lanka's short Test history.[46].
Muralitharan continued bowling, taking his
500th Test wicket in the second Test against Australia in Kandy on 16 March 2004.
In May 2004, Muralitharan overtook West Indian Courtney Walsh's
record of 519 Test match wickets to become the highest wicket-taker.
Muralitharan completed another twelve overs without further no-balls and,
after bowling Mark Waugh, finished the day with figures of 18-3-58-1.
In February 2008, Muralitharan was slated to play Twenty20 cricket
for the Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League IPL.
In 2004 at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, Muralitharan voluntarily performed a series of tests with live video cameras.
Muralitharan's paternal grandfather Periyasamy Sinasamy came
from South India to work in the tea plantations of central Sri Lanka in 1920.
Muralitharan took 4-48 on the first day of the second
Test as Australia were skittled for 120 in the first innings.
Muralitharan finished with six wickets in each innings to claim 10 wickets
or more in a Test for the 20th time.
In August that same year Muralitharan produces his career-best test match figures of 16 for 220, in
the one-off test against England.
On 15 November 2007, the Warne-Muralidaran Trophy was unveiled named
after the two leading wicket-takers in Test cricket, Shane Warne and Muralitharan.
At the conclusion
of Muralitharan's test career cricket writer Rahul Bhattacharya summed up Muralitharan's trials thus:"Murali is described often as a fox.
On 3 February 2009, Muralitharan dismissed Yuvraj Singh in his 327th match,
the third ODI against India in Colombo to equal Akram's record.
Muralitharan has a strike rate close to 70 in Test cricket
and scored over 55% of his Test runs in fours and sixes.
In May 2002, Adam Gilchrist, speaking
at a Carlton(Australian) Football Club luncheon, claimed Muralitharan's action does not comply with the Laws of cricket.