They call him the Smiling Assassin, and not without reason. Muttiah Muralitharan never made you feel bad when he teased and tormented you to your doom, with a big smile on his face. The Sri Lankan off-spinner played all his cricket with a smile, whether he was getting the ball to turn big and leave batsmen bemused, or if they were using their feet and taking him apart on the odd occasion, like Virender Sehwag and Mahendra Singh Dhoni did.
Test cricket’s highest wicket-taker with 800 scalps, Murali’s face-offs against India were always full of intrigue and drama. Among the best players of spin, Indian batsmen would dance down the track in a bid to negate his ripping turn. In the early part of his career when Murali had only a big-turning off-break and little variety, he was a sitting duck but as he brought more and more tricks into the mix, he commanded respect from all corners.
It was a battle between equals. Sometimes, India would get the better of him, at others Murali would spin his wicked, cunning, guileful web of deceit. It made for great theatre, especially in one-day cricket where the focus is on run-scoring, not mere occupation of the crease.
On this day in 2000, there was no question who the boss was. It was the final league fixture of a tri-nation tournament in Sharjah, and Sri Lanka rode on centuries from Marvan Atapattu and Mahela Jayawardene to post 294 for five on being put in by Sourav Ganguly. In reply, India had reached 99 for two with Sachin Tendulkar and the promoted Robin Singh in the middle of a 75-run partnership when Murali turned the game on its head.
His dismissal of Robin precipitated an extraordinary collapse, only halted briefly by a 77-run stand for the seventh wicket between Hemang Badani and Vijay Dahiya. Either side of that alliance, Murali was unplayable, finishing with seven for 30 in his 10 overs, the best figures in ODI cricket at the time. India were bowled out for 226, well beaten by 68 runs. Well beaten by Murali, that is.
