OTD: Muttiah Muralitharan became first bowler to claim 800 wickets in Test cricket history

A legendary spell to conclude a legendary spinners final chapter in Test cricket. On July 22, 2010, Sri Lanka legend Muttiah Muralitharan played his last ever match in the Whites. He concluded his iconic career by taking the 800th wicket, which is still today, one of a kind record in Test cricket history. 

It was match between Sri Lanka and India. India was the touring team. Muralitharan was with 792 Test wicket before the match at Galle. Came to bat first, Sri Lanka created a mountain of runs in their home ground. They declared their first innings after scoring 520 for 8 wickets. With that amount of runs, they were already top of their game. Tharanga Paranavitana  and captain Kumar Sangakkara were the two centurions in that innings. But the focus was on Muralitharan, as he was playing his career's last Test match. 

Day 2 was completely washout and By the end of day three, the spinner able to added only one wicket, which was Sachin Tendulkar's, in his record. Sri Lanka begun Day 4 with a massive advantage on the scoreboard and India under immense pressure. After claiming the wicket of Tendulkar, Muralitharan's tally was increased to 793, from there, he waved 7 more India batters with his spinn. 

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Sri Lanka won the match with absolute dominance 

Day 4 of the Test witnessed a collapsing India batting order. A total of 12 wickets, including the falls in the second innings on that single day. Among those 12, Muralitharan went to take 5 wickets. After Sachin, the spin wizard outsmarted Yuvraj Singh, captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Pragyan Ojha and Abhimanyu Mithun in the first innings. During the second phase of the contest, he bagged the wickets of Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh and Pragyan Ojha . Sri Lanka won the match by 10 wickets. Muralitharan took 8, including a 5-wicket haul in the first innings. 

"I started playing when I was 8 years old and I still listen to my coach from school days. Arjuna Ranatunga and de Silva and all those guys helped me through the tough times in 1995... always thought if something goes wrong I can bowl leg spin and continue playing cricket", the legend said this after the match.