When Mutthiah Muralitharan asked Ishant Sharma to whack one and get out for his 800th Test wicket

Sri Lankan
spin legend Muttiah Muralitharan retired from Test cricket after becoming the first bowler to reach the 800 Test wicket mark. In his last Test in 2010, he picked eight wickets against India.

The off
spinner had announced his intention to retire after playing the first of a
three-match series in Sri Lanka. Being 8 scalps away from the 800-mark, the decision
came as a bit of a surprise as it was expected he would play all three matches and
give himself a better chance to reach the incredible milestone. Murali had set
himself a bigger task.

Speaking with Indian off spinner Ravichandran Aswin on his YouTube channel, Murali recalled the final partnership between Ojha and Ishant Sharma.

“During the water break I spoke to Ishant Sharma and told him ‘you have been around for too long. Just try to whack one and get out. You are the last wicket. So staying around is not going to change things. Nor are you scoring runs. At least give me my 800th wicket’.”

“He said no way he was going to do that. It was luck that I got Pragyan out,” Murali said.

After Sri
Lanka’s first innings, in which they posted a total of 520 runs, it seemed Murali
would be denied his glory as rains washed out the entirety of the second day.
The maestro, however, had one last trick up his sleeve.

Murali
picked up five wickets in India’s first innings, including the likes of Sachin
Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni, to end the visitors’ first innings at
276. Having been asked to follow on, India were in a precarious position again
with VVS Laxman hanging around with the tail-enders after Lasith Malinga’s brilliant five-wicket
haul.

Having dismissed
two batsmen earlier in the innings, Murali was on 799 wickets when Laxman was
run out for India’s ninth wicket. However, Murali dismissed Pragyan Ojha to reach
the 800-milestone and end India’s innings.

Born in
Kandy, Murali made his debut as a 20-year-old against Australia in Colombo in
1992. He is also the most prolific wicket-taker in ODI cricket with 534 wickets
in 350 matches.