After thorny relationship with Australia, Muralitharan has forgiven and forgotten

Muralitharan could have had a cross to bear with Australia since the furore that engulfed him there in 1999 after he was called for chucking.

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - OCTOBER 02: (L-R) Muttiah Muralitharan shares a light moment with Craig McDermott during the Australian training session at the ICC Academy on October 2, 2014 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Francois Nel/Getty Images)Show less

DUBAI // Crooked elbows. Due diligence tampering. Dodgy dossiers. The doosra purge. Not being allowed to whistle while you work. Remember when cricket used to be fun?

It is times like this when the sport needs a little bit of Muttiah Muralitharan in its life.

The genial genius is carving out a new career as a coach in an unlikely setting.

The Sri Lankan off-spinner is in the UAE serving a consultancy role with Australia, the country where he was most famously deemed a chucker and where some still regard his myriad records as redundant, and undeserved.

At one time, Muralitharan taking up a job with the Australia team might have seemed about as likely as Kevin Pietersen being appointed digital editor of ecb.co.uk.

Yet, via their short-term liaison in the UAE, Muralitharan and Team Australia are becoming an unlikely love match.

“Life is all about moving forward and not thinking backwards and saying, ‘He has been harsh to me, I am going to do the same to him’,” Muralitharan said.

“Forget and forgive. I was suspected [of bowling with an illegal action].

“I had to prove myself to be innocent, and I proved myself over 20 years. They accepted that.

“If bad things happen, you can’t keep them in your heart. Forget, forgive, and go on.”

Muralitharan could have had a cross to bear with Australia since the furore that engulfed him there in 1999. Ross Emerson, the Australian umpire, called him for chucking.

The rules on how suspect bowling actions were dealt with were subsequently amended to be more sympathetic to bowlers, but Emerson still said in 2010 that Muralitharan’s record was tainted.

Now the game’s rulers are policing suspect actions with renewed vigour. Great joy-givers like Sunil Narine and Saeed Ajmal have been stood down from the game because of it, but Muralitharan thinks the prevailing laws are fair.

“I like this system,” Muralitharan said. “The umpires verdict is not the final verdict. The bowler gets a chance to prove himself, go for testing and see.

“Earlier, you didn’t have a chance like that. That is unfair because you are talking about a player’s career.”

Muralitharan, who played in Sharjah earlier this year with Bangalore Royal Challengers in the Indian Premier League, says his playing days are over.

He is contracted to do 30 days of work per year in Kolkata, and has given up Caribbean Premier League, Big Bash League and IPL playing commitments.

His “future plans are just to help spinners around the world”, and his present charges have been impressed so far.

“I’ve been working pretty hard at my bowling,” said Steve Smith, the leg-spinning all-rounder who made a century for Australia in the win over Pakistan on Tuesday night. “Murali has been great for me, he has come in and done a great job for us.”

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