OTD | Muttiah Muralitharan regained the record for most Test wickets by surpassing Shane Warne to take his 709th wicket in 2007

On this day in 2007, Muttiah Muralitharan scripted history by becoming the first bowler to take 709 Test wickets in the Kandy Test. The legendary spinner got past Shane Warne who had 708 Test wickets to his name. Muralitharan dismissed Paul Collingwood to script history. In 2004, Muttiah broke Courtney Walsh’s record for most Test wickets (519) and ended his career as the highest wicket-taker in Tests.

Shane Warne retired from Test cricket with the most wickets for his name. In 145 Test matches, the leg spinner claimed 708 wickets at a bowling average of 25.4 and an impressive economy rate of 2.65. He capped off his Test career on a high note by helping Australia to win the Ashes at home. In the process, he had overtaken Muralitharan with whom he had a neck-to-neck competition in the mid-2000s.

In Kandy, SL took on England in the first Test of the series in 2007. Batting first, the home side managed to post just 188 runs on the board. Matthew Hoggard and Monty Panesar claimed 4 and 3 wickets for the visiting side respectively. In reply, England posted 281 runs on the board. Ian Bell was the best batter scoring 83 runs in 125 balls.

During the same innings, Muralitharan dismissed Collingwood for 45(121). A clean bowl helped the legendary spinner to get past Warne in the list of leading wicket-takers in Tests. Muralitharan was the pick of the bowlers. He bowled a long spell of 35 overs. While 14 of them were maidens, he conceded just 55 runs including 6 wickets.

In the second innings, SL batted very well and posted 442/8 before declaring their innings. Kumar Sangakkara was the pick of the batters who scored 152(269). Mahela Jayawardene and Sanath Jayasuriya scored 65(108) and 78(106) respectively. SL won the Test by 88 runs. Muralitharan claimed 3 wickets in the second innings and ended up claiming a total of 9 wickets in the entire Test.

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