‘We would have turned the ball, but not made a big dent’: Muttiah Muralitharan on modern T20 cricket
Muttiah Muralitharan believes T20 cricket has evolved to heavily favor batsmen, making it challenging even for legends like himself and Shane Warne. He noted that modern power-hitting and batting mindsets, exemplified by SRH's aggressive approach, have shifted the game's dynamics, prioritizing entertainment over a balanced contest.
MUMBAI: On a night when Sunrisers Hyderabad chased down 243 against Mumbai Indians with eight balls and six wickets to spare, their spin-bowling coach Muttiah Muralitharan candidly admitted that T20 cricket has evolved to such an extent that it is now heavily tilted in favour of batters, to the point where even he or the late Australian leg-spin legend Shane Warne would have struggled against today’s power-hitters. Asked how he or Warne would have fared on modern-day pitches, Muralitharan said the game has evolved and eras cannot be compared, as "power-hitting wasn't as great as now". “We would have turned the ball, but we would have not made a big dent.
We could have got one or two wickets, maybe they would have scored 40 runs easily, because wickets are so good and you need about three-four bowlers like that to contain to less than 200. I have played about 170 T20 games, but at that time the power hitting wasn’t as great as now. Nowadays, 50 runs is a great deal for a spinner, 40 runs means you’ve bowled well.
The game has changed, we can’t compare the eras,” the former Sri Lanka spinner said. Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24 balls), Travis Head (76 off 30 balls), Heinrich Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10 balls) were ruthless with the bat while powering SRH to their fifth consecutive, and sixth overall win. Muralitharan, the only bowler to take 800 wickets in Tests and the highest wicket-taker in ODIs with 534 scalps, urged bowlers struggling to control marauding batters in IPL 2026: accept the reality and adapt.
“It’s very difficult for a bowler because these days every team has an opening pair that doesn’t care about in or out, they just go after the bowling. When we used to play, about 40 to 50 runs was a good score with one wicket losing in six overs, now the average is 70 to 80,” Muralitharan said at the post-match press conference on Wednesday. Wednesday night's run-feast on a batting paradise at the Wankhede Stadium saw 492 runs being scored in just 38.
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