After the drawn first Test in Ahmedabad, questions were raised about the spin bowlers in general and the highest wicket-taker in Test cricket, Muttiah Muralitharan, in particular. But Sri Lanka skipper Kumar Sangakkara ended all discussion about his strike bowler’s form and ability with an unambiguous mini-speech on the eve of the second Test, starting in Kanpur on Tuesday.

Asked if it was unusual for Murali to go wicketless in an innings, Sangakkara said: “Yes, it’s unusual,” and then started to explain why his team always banked heavily on the off-spinner to take wickets. “When you have a legend in your team like Murali, you have to depend on him, because you know he can bail you out at any time. It’s lucky that we’ve always had good support bowlers for Murali — (Chanaka) Welegedara did well in the first match, and there is a strong spin attack — but at the end, the bowling has to revolve around him.

“It’s like that with all teams. If there are legends, you rely on them. In Sri Lankan cricket, we’ve been lucky to have Murali in Tests, Sanath (Jayasuriya) in one-dayers, and Chaminda Vaas in all forms of the game over the last decade. We don’t expect our new players to be like Vaas or Murali, because they are what they are. We just want the best possible players to come out of our country. In this series, I don’t see Murali as struggling. He is just finding himself again in a new way. I’m a very strong believer he is our match-winner still.”

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