Sunrisers Hyderabad spin-bowling coach Muttiah Muralitharan, in a shocking remark, has said that cricket has changed so much these days, tilted in favour of batsmen, that even he or the late Shane Warne would have struggled like everyone else.
Muralitharan, the only bowler to take 800 wickets in Tests and the highest wicket-taker in ODIs with 534 scalps, was speaking to the press after his team’s thumping win against home side Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday night. Chasing 244 to win, SRH got over the line with 8 balls remaining and six wickets in hand. Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Heinrich Klaasen and Sahil Arora were ruthless with the bat for SRH.
“We would have turned [the ball], but we would not have made a big dent. We could have got like one or two wickets, maybe they would have scored 40 runs easily, because wickets are so good and you need about three-four bowlers like that to contain to less than 200,” the former Sri Lanka spinner said.
“It’s very difficult for a bowler because these days every team, not only us, has an opening pair that doesn’t care about in or out, they just go after the bowling.
“When we used to play, about 40 to 50 runs was a good score with one wicket in six overs, now the average is 70 to 80,” Murali reinforced.
The Bumrah reference!
Wednesday night’s match saw even a bowler like Jasprit Bumrah return figures of 0/54 in four overs. Murali referenced that. “Even a good bowler goes for a six, Bumrah goes for one or two balls. Abhishek, the way he hits, it’s unbelievable, but when a new boy Salil Arora hits a six, it’s unbelievable – you don’t think [someone with] the calibre of Bumrah comes and a young boy will hit a six because he will think about how am I going to survive.
“But nowadays, no, how am I going to hit a six – that’s their approach. Confidence levels have gone up because people have showed that this is the way to play the modern game, and youngsters are following that.
“So, for bowlers, there is not much to say; they have to practise a lot and be as accurate as possible. On your day, you might do well, even if you do well, sometimes you are at the receiving end because of the wicket and the conditions,” the 54-year-old said.
No balance possible now
Murali also said that it was now impossible to have some kind of balance between the bat and ball because it would get in the way of entertainment, which was the priority for all business houses.
“I think if we give fair wickets, the spectators will say it’s become boring because the T20 followers want entertainment, so they want to see the fours and sixes. That’s why the tournament is built like that – an extra player to come and bat. It is a big business at the moment, sponsors and everything, so you will lose the sponsors and interest of the people.”