5 Bowlers who ruled No. 1 ODI ranking for years

3. Muttiah Muralitharan – 2000

The greatest bowler of all time? Some Sri Lankans would argue on a fact that he’s the greatest cricketer of all time, and they could perhaps have a lot of facts to back it up. The wizard of the emerald isle as they called him, Muttiah Muralitharan spun a web around batsmen which was nearly impenetrable.

In November 1997, nearly five years after his international debut, Muralitharan broke into the top 10 of the ODI rankings. Three years later, exactly in the same month, he topped the ranking charts for the first time in his careers and stood there multiple times throughout his illustrious career.

Although he was temporarily dispossessed in June 2001, he reclaimed the spot before the year ended. He kept having spells despite not ending a calendar year on the top beside his peak years in 2000 and 2001. But till the end of 2009, where he was nearing the fag end of his career, he remained in the top ten and was relevant amongst the most productive bowlers.