Murali closes in on milestone

Muttiah Muralitharan's six wickets brought him closer to the 700 mark © Getty Images

Sri Lanka spinner Muttiah Muralitharan remained typically focused as he closed in on his 700th Test wicket with a six-wicket haul against Bangladesh.

Muralitharan finished with 6-28 off just 14.5 overs as the tourists collapsed to 131 all out on the second day of the third Test at the Asgiriya International Stadium.

The 35-year-old knows a repeat performance of six wickets in Bangladesh’s second innings will give him his 700th wicket and is already setting his sights on Shane Warne’s Test record of 708 wickets when Sri Lanka tour Australia in November.

“I thought I bowled well and it was good to get another six-wicket haul in Kandy,” Muralitharan said.

“This ground has given me 100 wickets and I am so happy to have achieved that at my home ground.

“I also think that the ground is good for Test cricket is good and the facilities of the ground have improved a lot.

“Of course I want to bowl as well as I can here and then look at breaking the world record in Australia if possible.”

Rain hampered Sri Lanka’s batting response, washing out the entire afternoon session, as openers Michael Vandort (25 not out) and Upul Tharanga (four not out) dodged the showers to reach 30 without loss in reply before bad light brought a premature end to the day’s play.

Muralitharan believes Sri Lanka’s batsmen can take the initiative in the match, adding that Bangladesh need more time to hone their abilities at Test level.

He said: “In this game I think we have to get a min of 300 runs to be comfortable and to win.

“With regards to Bangladesh, I think they need to play a lot of cricket to improve.

“Sri Lanka was like that when we started and Bangladesh too have to play and get experience and they will come good.”