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‘Thought I’d bowl leg spin,’ Muttiah Muralitharan’s stunning revelation
The former spinner revealed that while growing up, he was aware that his bowling action could land him in trouble, hence the spinner also practiced wrist spin to ensure he always had a Plan B ready.
Former Sri Lanka spinner Muttiah Muralitharan has stressed on the importance of having a back-up plan in the game. Citing his own example, Muralitharan revealed that while growing up, he was aware that his bowling action could land him in trouble, hence the spinner also practiced wrist spin to ensure he always had a Plan B ready.
“I used to bowl leg spin also when I was young, so I thought in case I went for tests on my action and then it doesn’t work, I’d become a leg spinner.” Muralitharan said on the Mind Masters Show by MFORE on Star Sports Tamil.
“As for everything, even when you play cricket you should have plan A & plan B. You can’t just stick to one plan. Same with any sport. Any day you can face a failure in your life or sport, failure is guaranteed, you will need to think about it and take it positively and move on saying tomorrow is another day.”
During his career, Muralitharan landed in hot waters more than once for his action. He was infamously no-balled repeatedly by former Australia umpire Ross Emerson for throwing the ball during a tri-series in Australia in 1998-99 and had his action tested and corrected several times during his career. For any cricketer, such incidents can be mentally taxing and highlighting the importance of mental aspect, Muralitharan pointed out impact of the mind.
“In any game, 90 per cent of the work is to be tactically and mentally fit. Only then can you play. When you are young, you won’t immediately think about that (being mentally fit) because of your interest and love for the game. Automatically, without being told, you’ll think about what to do and do it,” he said.
“But when you get into the professional level, it’s totally a mental game because of the pressure. A lot of cricketers who have good technique and haven’t dealt with this pressure, have fallen off. So, the mental aspect is more important in any sport, not just cricket.”
