Legendary spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, the “Doosra” master who has taken 800 Test Wickets and was also a part of the 1996 World Cup that was won by Sri Lanka, has turned down country’s recently elected president Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s offer to become the governor of Northern Province, Cricket Age exclusively learns.
Leading wicket taker in the history of both tests and ODI cricket, Murali is the most prominent Tamil personality to openly back Gotabaya Rajapaksa who has won the recent Presidential election.
After Gotabaya sworn in as the Sri Lanka president in Monday, there were media reports that Muralitharan to join his presidency is the governer of the Northern province, which has a huge majority of Tamils.
“Murali has humbly turned down the offer after consulting with his family members friends and well wishers” a former Sri Lanka cricketer, who is close to Murali, told Cricket Age.
A young family and overseas cricket commitments played a big part in declining the offer. Regarded as the greatest bowler in world cricket history, Murali has emerged as one of the most sought after bowling coach after his retirement. He has been the spin bowling coach or Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad since 2016 and has been hired as consultant for international teams like Australia in past.
“He spends Two to three months in India during the IPL. His son is also making strides as a cricketer. Considering all these, he decided that it is not the appropriate time to accept the offer” the former cricketer added further.
Sri Lankan Tamils are the native Tamils who live in North and East of Sri Lanka. Indian Tamils are indentured labourers from Tamil Nadu, who migrated to the island, during the British rule to work in tea estates in the Highlands of Sri Lanka. Murali is an Indian Tamil.
