The book “Adam Gilchrist-True Colours” has some controversial statements on Murali which the readers might find interesting and amusing. Of course the whole world knows that he was cleared of chucking and everything is ‘done and dusted.’
Arjuna Rantunga led the team off the field
The book states that when England played Sri Lanka in Adelaide. Alec Stewart the England captain called it ‘the least enjoyable game of cricket he ever played’, due first of all to a lot of jostling and niggling between the teams. However, when umpire Ross Emerson called Muttiah Muralitharan for throwing, Arjuna Ranatunga led the Sri Lankans off the field.
They were nearly through the gate, when the team management stopped the captain, and the game was held up while phone calls were exchanged between Arjuna and Colombo. Play resumed, but a few days later, Arjuna turned up at the disciplinary hearing with lawyers who argued that the ICC had no legal jurisdiction to enforce punishments.
So without any actual evidence been heard, the ICC backed down and agreed on a token suspended sentence for Arjuna, and the circus rolled on.
At the time, Gilchrist was bemused by the incident, following on the television. They were too focussed on their next game to debate the real issues, which was often the case.He almost pretended it not happening, until one day it happened to you and cannot ignore. On both issues-Murali’s action and the ICC’S power to control the game - he would be drawn in later in his career and they would leave him with two of his most bitter memories of cricket.He did not have many such experiences, but when they happened they were hard to forget, and he would be left rueing the years of inaction and indifference that had preceded them.
In May 2002, Gilchrist was invited to a lunch for 200 people at Charlton Football Club. John Elliot who was the club president at the time invited him on stage for a pre-lunch question/answer session. After a few friendly questions, he hit me with: ’Does Murali chuck the ball?’ to say Gilchrist was caught by surprise was an understatement say’s he, Gilchrist thought for few moments and then said cautiously: I think he does. I say, because if you read the laws of the game, there is no doubt in my mind that he and many others through cricket history have,” Gilchrist stated.
Gilchrist states that he will take this opportunity to clarify what he thinks of Murali and his action. “I do not back away from what I said; Murali is a great bloke with whom I have enjoyed many memorable cricket moments playing against him. I do not think he is personally to be blamed: he bowled the way he bowled, and it was not up to him to do any more than what he was asked. I also think that the game would have suffered if we had not seen his tremendous career over the last fifteen years. He was a true genius of what he does, and cricket has been a better game for his contribution.”
The author somehow feels that the statement is “tongue in cheek.” The reason is having said what he said he was trying to sugar coat. Anyway the readers are free to comment.
Gilchrist goes on to state that there is no doubt in his mind that his arm straightened more than the rules allowed when he started playing Test cricket in the mid-1990’s. therefore it was technical breach of the rules, Gilchrist rattles on stating that he had heard all the theories about optical illusions, but he won’t buy that. Along with he thinks many if not a majority of international cricketers, was convinced that his action breached the laws of the game. He should have been dealt with in 1995-96 when Darrel Hair and Ross Emerson no balled him in Australia. There should have been an objective technical assessment of how much his arm straightened, and he should have been given assistance in fixing it up.
RACIAL ATTACK
Gilchrist recalls that the real, issue - does he straighten his arm? Was railroaded by Sri Lankan authorities, and Arjuna Ranatunga turning it into a debate over race. They were threatening a walkout, and there was a talk of a split in the game between “white and ‘black’ countries, because the questioning of Murali’s action was interpreted as a racial attack.
Gilchrist sounds sensible in stating that nobody seemed to spare much thought for the batsman playing Murali. Because he was so potent, guys were losing their wickets, and eventually losing their test careers in some cases because of this bowler (Murali).
As much as I like Murali, my sympathies lay more with those batsmen, from any other nation, whose careers suffered because of a bowler who was in technical breach of the rules and seemed to enjoy political protection. This last bit of ‘political protection’ sounds absurd to me because the Aussie mentality is to win at any cost.
In his book “True colours” Gilchrist has never mentioned about the incident, “golf ball” inside his batting glove when the Aussies beat Sri Lanka in a World Cup final.
Gilchrist states that what made it worse was that Murali is such a nice guy, he spent two hours tracking him down in England without luck. When he got hold of him, at 1.30 in the morning in Australia, Murali was on the Sri Lankan team bus. Gilchrist was not apologising or backing down, but they were his comments and that was what he said, but he considered it a private function and he had no idea that it would be blown up publicly, and personally he had no problem in playing against him.
Eventually with the then coach Dave Whatmore’s help, Gilchrist managed to get the full import of his message through. Gilchrist concludes in stating that he and Murali have had a really good relationship ever since.
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