Sri Lankan legendary spinner Muttiah Muralitharan in an interview with EspnCricInfo recalled his best rivals in the cricket field.
Murali spoke very highly of Sehwag and Lara, rating them as the two most difficult batsmen he had bowled to during the course of his illustrious career. He added, he didn’t fear bowling to the great Sachin Tendulkar as the Indian maestro wouldn’t hurt him like a Virender Sehwag or a Brian Lara.
When asked who read Murali’s doosra well, Murali said Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and Gautam Gambir read it while
Rahul Dravid didn’t read it.
“Among the Sri Lankan players, (Kumar) Sangakkara, Mahela (Jayawardene), Aravind de Silva, Marvan Atapattu read it. (Tilakaratne) Dilshan never had a clue,” he further added.
Murali also said Dhoni read his bowling well, “I would say Dhoni read it towards the end when I was bowling to him in Chennai. I remember in the World Cup, Yuvraj didn’t have a clue on me. He was supposed to come but I think because of me Dhoni came (ahead of Yuvraj).’
Among current players, international cricket’s highest wicket-taker said India’s Virat Kohli and Pakistan’s Babar Azam would have played him well.