Muttiah Muralitharan wants Sri Lanka to move on

Tuesday, 20 December 2011 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Sri Lankan bowling legend Muttiah Muralitharan wants his team to stop making excuses and start delivering results in international cricket, especially in the longest version of the game.

Since the retirement of Murali, the team has been unable to win even a single Test match and current skipper Tillakaratne Dilshan has been under immense pressure to perform against top sides.

The 35-year-old has mostly blamed his inexperienced bowling attack for not being able to deliver results in Test cricket, but Murali believes that batting has also been a flop in recent times.

According to the spin wizard, “We are losing matches not because of our bowling, but because our batting is not clicking. This has been the case for the last six months after the World Cup. So, hopefully, if the team can get some youngsters and rebuild, then we will do well.”

Veteran batsmen Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara have been consistent for the team over the past many years, but have struggled to deliver results consistently since the past few months.

During the home series against Australia, Jayawardene showed his class in a couple of outings, but struggled in the next series against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

However, Sangakkara was in sublime form against the Men in Green and scored runs consistently in the three match Test series. Even then, the Lankan Lions failed to win any test. The main reason for that was the experience duo of Jayawardene and Sangakkara were not clicking as a pair.

Apart from that, Dilshan seems to have taken a lot of pressure of captaincy, as his batting form has dipped over the past six months. Murali was concerned about the current situation of the team and said that his side needs to react quickly and produce some quality bowlers. He added, “Cricket has to go on. Players come and go, and that is the way it is for the last 100 years. So [the poor show] I think is not mainly due to my absence alone but because we are missing a strong bowling attack.” Other than Murali, pace ace Lasith Malinga had also quit playing Test cricket, leaving the team in a vulnerable position.