Aussies v Murali: Tasty Side Dish

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Murali - will he be targeted?

By Nick Miller

Muttiah Muralitharan excites more passion and polarised opinions than perhaps any other bowler in world cricket.

Everyone has an opinion on the man, but perhaps the place where he causes most controversy is Australia.

It was in Australia - and by Australian umpires in Ross Emerson and Darrel Hair - that Murali was called for 'chucking' on the 1995/96 and 1998/99 tours, and he is often spoken of with barely-disguised contempt by those Down Under.

It's always fascinating when Australia come up against the spinner, and in recent times they have adopted one obvious strategy against him - all-out attack.

The last time they met was in the VB Series of 2006, when the sides contested the three-match final series.

It would be a big understatement to say that Murali took some punishment in that series, taking four wickets for 189 runs, including 0/99 from his 10 overs in the second game, when Ricky Ponting and Andrew Symonds made murderous hay.

Indeed, his ODI record against Ricky Ponting's men does not compare favourably to his overall figures.

While in all ODIs he has taken a remarkable 455 wickets at 22.58, against the Australians he averages 29.84, and has no five-wicket haul to his name.

All of this suggests that Australia are the one team in the world to have his number, but that doesn't neccessarily mean that it will be the same story in the World Cup final.

In recent years Murali has improved his one-day showings by coming around the wicket more, thus making the infamous 'doosra' more difficult to spot.

From over the wicket, the difference between the off-spinner and the wrong'un can - as a general rule - be spotted from the line at which it arrives - outside off it's his stock ball, on the stumps it's the doosra.

However, when coming round the wicket Murali generally pitches every ball on middle stump or thereabouts, the angle of the delivery making the doosra nigh-on impossible to pick from just the line.

Australia will no doubt try to get on top of Murali as soon as possible, but given the way that he has bowled in the World Cup so far, will that be their downfall?