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NEWS India-Sri Lanka ODI Series 2006>Captains will come and go, but I'll go on forever: Muralitharan 21st Aug 2006 19.31 IST By Agencies Sri Lanka's record-breaking bowler Mutiah Muralitharan says he is an ageless bowling wonder. "Captains will come and go, but I will go on forever," he said in Colombo.
Does he get tired by seeing frequent headlines like 'Murali bags five'? "One doesn't get tired by reading such things. I enjoy it. I get tired only when I am not taking wickets," he said. That doesn't happen often, though. The veteran offie, the fastest bowler in Test history to get to 650 wickets, said there was no rivalry as such with Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne who is top of the all-time bowling list with 685 wickets. Muralitharan has on 18 occasions taken 10 or more wickets in a match besides 56 five-wicket innings hauls, the most in Tests. Add to that the 417 one-day wickets, and his tally in international cricket goes to a staggering 1074, 96 more than Shane Keith Warne . "I am never aiming to catch up with him. I actually held the record before, so it doesn't bother me," he said. The 34-year old's career has been marred by persistent questioning of the legality of his action. But at the same time Muralitharan has continued to amaze cricket lovers the world over with his skill to extract big turn even on the most placid of surfaces that has brought him wickets in bags. Muralitharan credited much of his success to Arjuna Ranatunga, his former captain. "I have played under different captains and I don't want to rate them as to who is the best. One thing I would like to say is Arjuna has done a lot to me. Because of me he fell into trouble," he said, referring to Ranatunga threatening to taking his team off the field in a Test match in Australia, after the bowler was 'no balled' for chucking. "Captains are different in their style and all of whom I played under have been successful. I am an easy going guy, so I never had any problems with anyone." Muralitharan said he never nursed captaincy ambitions. "I don't want to put extra pressure on myself. I always wanted to concentrate on my role. I have played under four-five captains and the team has done well under them. "As far as me, I have enjoyed my role as a bowler." He said Tom Moody has done a remarkable as coach but that was not the sole reason for his side's recent success. "Moody is a good coach. He gets things organised well. But I think at this level (of the game) the players know what to do," Muralitharan, world's second highest wicket-taker with 657 scalps, said. "At the international level, it is more about preparation rather than the technical aspects. We all know that depending on how a team does, the coach gets praised or criticised. "But I think a coach can only do five to 10 per cent. The rest is upto the players in the middle." Since Moody, a former Australian international, took over as coach in the middle of last year, Sri Lanka have bounced from a Test and one-day series loss in India to register a Test win in England and established a sequence of 11 victories in all forms of the game. Muralitharan said he was a different man post-marriage. "Family has changed me. I am enjoying the time away from cricket with the kids. It is a different experience." Muralitharan said Sri Lanka would be a tough team at the World Cup next year in the Caribbean, if they sustained the momentum they had now. "We have experienced players. It is also a young and athletic side. If we take the form we showed in England (where they drew a thee-Test series 1-1), we would be a contender." Also View In-Depth Coverage: India-Sri Lanka ODI Series 2006 Team Page: India Team Page: Sri Lanka | LIVE CRICKET COVERAGE NEWS ~ Gilchrist has no plans to retire after World Cup ~ Ganguly's new batting approach may cost him sixer record ~ India 'squash the Orange' in World Cup warm-up game ~ Symonds gets a new hairdo for World Cup ~ Dhoni readies himself for stand-up act at World Cup (more in NEWS) FACE-TO-FACE ~ 500-mark a possibility in World Cup: Hayden ~ Minnows add charm to World Cup: Dravid (more in FACE-TO-FACE) COLUMNS ~ Will Sri Lanka replicate 1996 World Cup success? (more in COLUMNS) OFF-THE-FIELD ~ Ganguly again the darling of corporate world ~ Ganguly roped in as brand ambassador of Puma (more in OFF-THE-FIELD) PLAYERS Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble (more PLAYERS) TEAMS India, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia, West Indies, Zimbabwe, England, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Kenya, Holland | 
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