Sachin Tendulkar vs Muttiah Muralitharan is one of the greatest all-time rivalries in cricket. While the Indian legend is the all-time leading run-scorer in international cricket, the Sri Lankan off-spinner is the highest wicket-taker in international cricket. Despite being the all-time greats in their own respective domains, the two continue to share great camaraderie on and off the field.
While Tendulkar has dominated Muralitharan on a few instances, on other occasions, it has been the legendary off-spinner who has had the last laugh. In the One World-One Family T20 Exhibition match at the Sai Krishnan Cricket Stadium in Muddenahalli, Karnataka, it was the Sri Lankan who got rid off the Indian legend off his first ball. The video of the same has gone viral on social media.
Take a look at the clip here:
Sachin Tendulkar Scored Brisk 27
Tendulkar scored a brisk 27 for the One World side and was looking in fine nick. However, none of that seemed to matter to Muralitharan who deceived the batter, tempting him to play a big shot and got his wicket. It was Mohammad Kaif who took Tendulkar's catch at long off to send the master batter back in the pavilion. Muralitharan, Kaif and Yuvraj Singh are all part of the One Family side.
As far as Tendulkar's record against Muralitharan in international cricket is concerned, the right-handed batter averaged 32.7 against the Sri Lankan off-spinner in Test matches. He scored 196 runs in them while losing his wicket to him on six occasions. In the 50-overs format though, MuralithaMohran got out to Tendulkar only once in his career while making 83 runs off his bowling.
While Tendulkar retired from all forms of international cricket in 2014, Muralitharan last donned the Sri Lankan national colours in 2011 which was the ODI World Cup final at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, the match which ironically helped Tendulkar achieve his childhood dream of winning the World Cup.