PUNE: If there is anyone who knows what it's like to carry the hopes of people on the shoulder in the World Cup campaign, while also delivering the best to win the trophy in the sub continent conditions, it’s Sri Lanka legend Muttiah Muralitharan.
Currently the ICC brand ambassador for its social cause with Unicef, he brushed aside the talks of decline in the ODI format, while speaking with media at the Maharashtra Cricket Association in Pune on Sunday.
"All three formats have to be there in the future. I know the public wants quick matches like football or something (which gets over in less than 3 hours). That is why, T20s are played everywhere most of the time. T20 tournaments are happening in the world, so people are glued into that. But fifty-over gives something special," the off spinner with 534 ODI wickets said.
While promoting the format, Muralitharan also praised the spin attack of Afghanistan, who bowled 38 overs amongst themselves on the spin-friendly conditions in Chennai to restrict Pakistan. The Sri Lankan stalwart has worked closely with the likes of Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi and had high praise for the Afghan unit. “They have one of the best bowling attacks, four spinners are unbelievable spinners because they are different. Fazalhaq Farooqi and the fast bowlers are also very skilled and they have been picked in IPL teams. “Batting-wise they have a powerful batting line-up because they just play very attacking cricket. That’s the style we played in 1996 when we won the World Cup,” he said.
Muralitharan also suggested that Sri Lanka should be more patient with their players so that the same players can deliver for the country consistently in the future. "Champion sides are not made in just one day. It's a process for five years. I think we haven't done that since 2015. Honestly speaking, we haven't built players. You see that because of the patience that Arjuna (Ranatunga) had at the time. You have 20 years of brilliant cricketers come through. So now we are going backward and we just want to make sure that we win this somehow. Try to win this tournament somehow, change players and the confidence of the players goes down. New player comes and he has pressure to perform. This has affected the team," said the former spinner while being blunt on why speaking on Sri Lanka's struggles.
With Netherlands beating the likes of South Africa and Bangladesh and Afghanistan registering their second win of the WC after not winning a single match in the previous edition, Muralitharan praised the sides for their performances in the 2023 edition. "Netherlands are the only one without Test status this time around. Afghanistan, with the talent they have, they can win the World Cup. That kind of a side they have, so that is not a surprise for anyone. But the surprise was the Netherlands. Because beating big teams in conditions much different than they are used to is creditable. They play in bouncy tracks and seaming, swinging tracks. Here, it becomes a little flat and still beating the bigger sides, it means something special.
I would like to say that if you can add more associate nations, it will be great for the tournament," he signed off.
