Muttiah Muralitharan: "This may be my last World Cup so if we can win it will be the greatest moment in my life" © AFP

Muttiah Muralitharan says a victory in the World Cup final against Australia on Saturday would be the biggest moment of his career, surpassing the 1996 World Cup triumph and all of his personal records.

"I had moments in 1996, I was very young and I didn't know much about it," he told AFP. "Now I know what it takes to win a World Cup. This may be my last World Cup so if we can win it will be the greatest moment in my life rather than my individual records."

Muralitharan, along with Chaminda Vaas and Sanath Jayasuriya, was part of the team that beat Australia in the final of the 1996 World Cup. He said the batsmen held the key to defeating Australia, who are unbeaten in the Caribbean.

"We have batsmen of the calibre of Jayasuriya, [Mahela] Jayawardene, [Kumar] Sangakkara, and [Upul] Tharanga," Muralitharan said. "If they click, the way we played in England [Sri Lanka won the one-day series 5-0 in 2006], we had total domination and I only played in two matches. If our batsmen get set we will be more dangerous than any other team in the world because we can play more shots than any other players."