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Spin wizard gets to 1000 wickets

Murali breaks the 1000-wicket barrier

Muttiah Muralitharan added another milestone to his burgeoning list on the third afternoon of the Chittagong match

S Rajesh

March 2, 2006

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Muttiah Muralitharan has been scaling peaks and setting records at a breakneck rate over the last few years, and he added another milestone to his burgeoning list on the third afternoon of the Chittagong match. Playing his 100th Test, Murali made the occasion doubly memorable by taking his 1000th wicket in international cricket. The dismissal itself was a controversial one - Khaled Mashud was given out caught when the ball only hit his pad - but that only meant the inevitable was achieved a few minutes earlier than it would have been. The table below lists the highest wicket-takers - Shane Warne is only 48 behind, but none of the others are within touching distance.

Most international wickets
Bowler Wkts - Tests Wkts - ODIs Total
Muralitharan 593 411 1004
Warne 659 293 952
Akram 414 502 916
McGrath 542 331 873
Kumble 494 329 823
Younis 373 416 789
Walsh 519 227 746
Pollock 385 346 731
Kapil 434 253 687
Vaas 301 352 653

The table below charts out Murali's progression to 1000 wickets. He took 46 matches to get to 100 wickets, and then needed 51 more to get to 200, but that was more because he only played seven Tests during this period. His quickest 100-wicket spell - in terms of matches played - was when he galloped from 600 to 700 in a mere 24 games, 10 Tests (which fetched him 80 wickets) and 14 ODIs.

Murali's progressions to 1000 wickets
Total wickets Tests
Played/ wickets
ODIs
Played/ wickets
Total matches
100 21/ 78 25/ 25 46
200 28/ 107 69/ 95 97
300 39/ 177 91/ 123 130
400 48/ 227 127/ 173 175
500 57/ 291 148/ 209 205
600 66/ 350 174/ 250 240
700 76/ 430 188/ 276 264
800 82/ 459 223/ 342 305
900 90/ 527 240/ 374 330
1000 100/ 593 270/ 411 370

S Rajesh is stats editor of Cricinfo

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S Rajesh Stats editor Every week we take a look at the story behind the stats, with an original slant on facts and figures. The column is written by S Rajesh, Cricinfo's stats editor. Rajesh did an MBA in marketing, and then worked for a year in advertising, before deciding to chuck it in favour of a job that would combine the pleasures of watching cricket and writing about it. The intense matches of office cricket were an added bonus.
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Sri Lanka v Pakistan at Galle - Jul 4-8
Sri Lanka 292 & 0/0 Pakistan 342
Sri Lanka v Pakistan at Colombo (PSS)
Jul 12-16 (10:00 local, 04:30 GMT)
Sri Lanka v Pakistan at Colombo (SSC)
Jul 20-24 (10:00 local, 04:30 GMT)
Sri Lanka v Pakistan at Dambulla
Jul 30 (10:00 local, 04:30 GMT)
Sri Lanka v Pakistan at Dambulla
Aug 1 (10:00 local, 04:30 GMT)
Complete fixtures »
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