Murali gets involved in cricket after ten years  

by Rex Clementine

Cricket’s most successful bowler – Muttiah Muralitharan retired from the game in 2011 and for ten years he had little involvement with Sri Lanka Cricket, although he offered his services elsewhere in the IPL and to the Australian Test team. With his appointment on Friday to the Cricket Committee headed by Aravinda de Silva that’s set to change.  

“To be honest, nobody asked me to get involved before. Namal called me and asked whether I can help. This is the first time someone has asked me whether I can be of some help.  I said if I am coming in, it had to be a good team and we have a very good one in Aravinda, Kumar Sangakkara and Roshan Mahanama,” Muralitharan told Sunday Island.

“Three guys have captained Sri Lanka with some guys playing in 1980s while someone like Sanga being modern having played till 2015. There’s a lot of experience. Whatever the suggestions we want to give the board, we will collectively discuss and put them forward. I don’t want to speak my mind out before we meet as a committee. I don’t have any favourties or enemies in the sport. We want to be fair to everybody.

“After 2015 everything is in shambles. We have to now play for qualifiers. We lose Test matches without any fight. Discipline has eroded. I have played and coached at the highest level and I know what we are missing,” Muralitharan remarked.  

There will be more clarity on the role of the Cricket Committee once they meet Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa next week. But it is believed that they will provide recommendations on cricket matters and one of their prime tasks is to restructure domestic cricket.

Many former players have spoken of the need to revamp domestic cricket but for four years no change has been done. The Provincial Tournament that was highly competitive at one point has not been regular and observers have remarked that the gap between international cricket and domestic cricket is too huge.