3 Test legends who struggled in India
One of the many beauties of Test cricket is that it demands different skill-sets to succeed in varying conditions, especially for a batsman.
English conditions, as we saw throughout the India tour of England, challenges a batsman's ability to counter movement aided by both the pitch and overhead conditions, Australia challenges batsman to counter fast and bouncy pitches, while South Africa and New Zealand challenge a batsman's ability to counter all of seam, swing, and bounce.
While the fast bowlers pose threats to the batsman in the aforementioned countries, the focus shifts to the spinners as we move to the sub-continent. Likewise, for bowlers, it is never easy to adjust to varying conditions, as different conditions require different lengths to bowl to constantly challenge the batsman.
Also Read:- Superstars and their fairytale farewell
Over the years, we have seen overseas spinners struggle in spin-friendly conditions of India and likewise for the sub-continent bowlers when they travel to the SENA countries.
Today, in this article, we will have a look at 3 Test legends who failed in India:-
#3 Muttiah Muralitharan
Record in India: Matches: 11 Wickets: 40 BBI: 7-100 Avg: 45.45 5-wicket-haul: 2
The most successful Test bowler in the history of the game; a man who could spin a bowl many a mile even on glass, the great Muttiah Muralitharan bamboozled batsmen all over the world with his truckload of tricks during the course of his 18-year-old illustrious career.
Seldom did Murali struggle like he did in India. Murali's struggle in India mirrored Sri Lanka's woes against their sub-continental neighbours, as their biggest match-winner's average zoomed to 43.11, a steep slide from his career average: a staggering 22.72.
Muralitharan's first taste of the Indian conditions came in 1994. In three matches, the off-spinner took 12 wickets at an average of 35.00. Things headed south three years later, as Murali was put to the sword by the Indian batsmen. In two matches, the legendary off-spinner could manage barely two scalps at a catastrophic average of 103.66.
His best performance came in the 2005 tour where he claimed 16 wickets in six innings at an average of 31.00 (his highest in India), before he came up against a rampaging Virender Sehwag four years later in 2009 to round-off his ordeal in India with nine wickets in three games at 65.66.
Also Read:- Indian bowlers and their bunnies