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Murali’s batting
Murali’s always had a certain approach to batting.
- Have a ruddy great swing at the ball
- Miss
- Have an even bigger swing at the next one
Usually this method fails for reasons that are fairly clear even to Murali. Occasionally it doesn’t and he hits 33 off 16 balls to win a match, as happened yesterday against Bangladesh.
It’s perversely heart-warming that after 447 international matches, no-one has managed to coach even the slightest bit of batting caution or batting reason into the man. It’s even more heart-warming that he can, on occasion, be entirely vindicated in his approach, even if it’s only once every 200-or-so matches.
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Don’t give a crap about his bowling, love his batting. Aaah I remember that time he clouted Warne around a bit when Oz were last in SL. Brilliant stuff. He’s too serious with his bowling, it’s only with the bat that you get to see the real wide-eyed, maniacally grinning Murali.
I love his bowling and his batting.
There aren’t many batsmen that could drag me away from the bar to watch the innings, but Murali is one of them.
With KP/Freddie/Albie Morkel/MS Dhoni type batsmen, you expect them to have just about got going by the time you get back from the bar with your drinks, whereas Murali requires the “abandon bar queue” approach if you want to see the innings.
You do usually see the innings in its entirety before the slightest pang of thirst emerges, it has to be said.