Sri Lanka cricketers not good enough to bag an IPL contract: Muttiah Muralitharan

World’s most successful bowler Muttiah Muralitharan was critical of the current crop of Sri Lanka players. He opined that the youngsters are underperforming and the think-tank is tweaking with the playing combination too often. Sri Lanka haven’t had the best of times in international cricket in the last couple of years.

Sri Lanka’s disastrous show against Zimbabwe

The retirements of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene has left a big void in the Sri Lankan set-up. Recently, they faced defeat at the hands of Zimbabwe in a home bilateral ODI series. Zimbabwe had never won a single ODI playing against Sri Lanka away and they not only won an ODI but went on to win the series by 3-2. In the process, they also recorded the highest chase on Sri Lankan soil when they chased down 317 in a canter. This has to be the lowest ebb of Sri Lankan cricket in recent times.

“We lost in the Zimbabwe series for the first time ever in Sri Lanka that means we’re not performing well,” Murali, who is the spin bowling consultant of Bengal’s Vision 2020 programme, said and added,  “We have the talent but at the moment a lot of senior players are retired. The younger players are not performing well. Too many are playing and every time the team is changed.”

Murali thinks India has a great chance in this series

Sri Lanka are currently hosting India in a 3-Test series. The visitors have dominated the proceedings in the first Test at Galle as their batsmen made merry against a pedestrian Sri Lankan attack. Murali said India has a good chance of winning as the wicket will begin turning later during the game.

“India will have a better opportunity than Sri Lanka this time. The wicket there is good for batting in the first two days then it starts to spin… So always who bats first have a better chance of winning,” Murali said.

Speaking of Herath’s performance in the first two days, where he picked just one wicket after bowling 40 overs, Murali defended the stand-in skipper saying the wicket gave no assistance to Herath.

The former off-spinner acknowledged Ashwin and Jadeja’s skill and also stated that they will be a threat to the Sri Lankan batting come Day 4 and 5.

“He’s (Ashwin) is a very good bowler and he will do well in this wicket. Also, they have Jadeja as the spinner so third, fourth and fifth day onwards spinners will play a vital role in this Test.”

Murali can’t see Sri Lankan playing featuring in the IPL

The legendary spinner was brutally honest about Sri Lanka player’s chances in the high-profile T20 competition: the IPL. He said that they weren’t good enough yet to take part in the glitz and glamor of the mega event.

“At the moment, Sri Lanka does not have capable players to play in the IPL. Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and England, there are a lot of good players there. The tournament can have 32 international players, our guys don’t fit into it,” he had said.