Brightly Fades The Genius
By S. Skandakumar
The writer with Murali
When that great bard, William Shakespeare wrote the lines, “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players”, he could not have envisaged an off spinning genius from Sri Lanka entering that arena almost four and a half centuries later.
As the curtain came down on a truly memorable theatrical which held the undivided attention of the cricketing world for almost two decades, that spinning maestro took his final bow in Galle, before a world audience that rose as one to repeated encores.
In a career studded with intrigue, envy, challenges and phenomenal achievements, Muttiah Muralitharan left the test arena with life’s most precious assets, Humility and Integrity, securely intact.
At the end of that memorable test match at the Kensington Oval in August 1998, where Sri Lanka registered her first ever test win on English soil, the master with a match bag of 16 wickets raised his tally to 200. At draw of permanent stumps two years and a decade later, that figure had quadrupled to an unassailable 800 !
The closing tense moments of the farewell test will be long remembered for that agonising wait for the final Indian wicket. They were moments that brought the people of a cricket loving nation spontaneously together as one. It was also an endorsement of that one great scorer of how well the genius had played the game.
That wicket, the landmark, and some priceless moments of national unity…was there a silent message for all Sri Lankans to read ?
Much has been written of his cricketing achievements and more accolades will deservedly flood the world’s print media and television networks before this masterpiece is also relegated to history. Its uniqueness will however continue to inspire forever, giving as much delight at each review as the unforgettable strains of the Blue Danube Waltz !
Indeed not all the pens in the world put together will ever be able to write enough or pay sufficient tribute to one of the most innovative artisans the world of cricket has known. The Tamil Union, his cricketing home, can justifiably bask in the reflected glory to eternity; an apt reward for a club whose oval provided unmatched support for national cricket throughout the formative years.
Meanwhile yet another puerile whimper from the archives to downgrade this outstanding career led one and all to resign to the reality that beneath a turban in a neighbouring country, an inconsequential tragedy will continue to squeak.
The non cricketing and humane side of Murali the genius, is reflected in the Foundation of Goodness, a humanitarian project that he and his all perfect gentleman manager Kushil Gunasekera initiated, which attracted some of the finest names in the sporting world as partners and co-sponsors. His target for those rendered homeless by the tsunami devastation at 1000 was driven by compassion and exceeded his personal aspirations with a red cherry.
Their completion raised an encore of a different kind as the world admired and applauded the sterling qualities of a human being who in reaching the skies as a cricketing icon, never lost the common touch nor the precious values of his upbringing.
Thank You Murali; to write this tribute has indeed been a special privilege. Your retirement opportunities are as numerous as your spinning options and yet, none will be as rewarding as your role in the rebuilding of our beautiful nation and the reconciliation of its wonderful people.
BLESS YOU.
(S. Skandakumar was former Hony. Secretary of Sri Lanka Cricket)
