At the nets on Tuesday, Murali picked up the white Kookaburra and bowled with the same zeal and zing as he always does, in every net session, in every international match. Of late, he’s also been pestering skipper Mahela Jayawardene for a higher spot in the batting order after his last-man exploits against Bangladesh. The wily off-spinner is rather keen to occupy the number eight slot — accorded to the best batsman among the bowlers in the Lankan team.

Consistent performer

Muralitharan will eventually get to his record, with the breezy conditions and the small size of the Dambulla ground just a small deterrent. “He is a brilliant bowler. I have seen his career graph, and he has been very consistent. He is a champion bowler,” Dhoni said about Murali on Tuesday. “As far as this series is concerned, we know that he will reach the mark. Hopefully we will give him only a few wickets and play him as well as we played him in the last series.”

Lankan captain Jayawardene finds it difficult to say much about Murali. “It is difficult for me to put his bowling into words. Everyone knows the amount of hard work he has put in over the last 16 years, going through a lot of hardships.

“Tomorrow he might hold both the records in Tests and one-dayers, and that’s an amazing effort for someone who started as a fast bowler and then turned into an off-spinner. Now he challenges me to put him up in the order after his heroics with the bat — that’s Murali for you. We will be very happy once he gets the record. It’ll be another milestone for him and another one for Sri Lankan cricket,” he said.

Murali declined to speak about the impending milestone. He’d rather let the ball do the talking for now.