Colombo: Veteran Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan believes only Ravichandran Ashwin can reach 700-800 wickets in the current generation spinners and Australia's Nathan Lyon is not able to reach this figure. Muralitharan's name is in the highest number of 800 wickets in Test cricket, while Shane Warne (708) is second and Anil Kumble (619) is third.
Muralitharan said in Michael Vaughan's column for London's Telegraph newspaper that Ashwin has the opportunity because he is a brilliant bowler. No other bowler except him can reach the figure of 800 wickets. Nathan Lyon doesn't have that ability. He is near 400 wickets, but he will have to play a lot of matches to reach there. Ashwin has taken 377 wickets in 74 Tests while Lyon has picked up 396 wickets in 99 Tests.
Muralitharan said everything changed from T20 and one-day cricket. When I played, Batsman was tech-rich and the wicket was flat. Now, in three days, the matches are over. In my era, the bowlers had to make extra efforts to bring results and show the charisma of the turn. He said that nowadays when holding the line and length, five easy wickets are available, as the batsman is not able to stand tall while playing aggressively.
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