Jack's Late Night Theses, numero due.
Upul Chandana is a better bowler than Muttiah Muralitharan
Muttiah Muralitharan has been referred to by many as the greatest ever bowler in world cricket. Except by Australian umpires. And to the horror of the many Murali supporters around the world, I have to side with these Australian umpries. Because there is one bowler who is definently better than the great "Murali".
Umagiliya Durage Upul Chandana.
Now, as I alluded to earlier, I was tempted to use statistics out of the pioneer cricketing game "International Cricket Captain", in which you often find that Upul Chandana is often the second most expensive player in the game, behind only Greg Blewett, who incidentally is the greatest batsman since Bradman. But I'll leave that for another time. However, I realised that there are real facts that prove that Murali is far inferior to the greatest leg spinner that the world has ever seen, (being Chandana; because Shane Warne has taken roughly 8/9ths of his wickets with balls that aren't spinning, i.e. slider, top spinner, flipper, and therefore as such can't be considered a proper leg spinner. And anyways, by being as far superior than Murali as what Upul is, you are clearly better than Warne.)
Now before you start saying that "If Warne's been taking diuretics to get thin, then Chandana, who at last check weighed in at 19.4kgs, must avoid these weight loss pills like Robert Downey Jr. avoids credit cards and toilets", well, innocent till proven guilty
.
However, I digress. Muttiah Muralitharan, his critics say, is a minnow basher. And this commentator agrees. Averaging less than 24 against every side except for India and Australia, widely considered the two best batting sides during Murali's career. HA! Both these teams he averages over 30 against. So I decided to measure these two powerhouses versus the best in the business. Unfortunately, for some strange reason (must have been politics), Chandana has never played against India. Therefore, from here on in, all statistical comparisons will be made in their comparative statistics versus Australia.
Now, to the horror of this reporter, Chandana's average versus the best was outstripped by Muttiah's. After recovering from the shock, I managed to note that the difference was only .51 runs per wicket. Since no team has ever won or lost a game by half a run, I decided that these figures needed further investigation.
Muralitharan's other achilles heel, in the eyes of his detractors, is that the local groundsmen produce wickets that favour his type of bowling. Now, keep in mind that for the purpose of this exercise, Muralitharan's type of bowling is completely different to Chandana's. Murali's is the type that takes 532 Test wickets, Chandana's is the type that takes 37. Muralitharan at home versus Australia has taken numerous wickets at quite a reasonable rate (26.12 to be exact), but because of the doubt over the legitimacy of these pitches, means that we are faced with a choice. We can either:
1. Discard these figures
2. Add an extra 33 onto his bowling average vs Aus in Sri Lanka, because I'm in a mean mood.
I've decided to discard these figures, because in the three seconds it took to move onto this paragraph, my mood became slightly better. But what the hell, we'll add the 33 and then discard the figures for being inaccurate.
Now that I've explained why comparing figures versus Australian in Australia is the only accurate way of comparing the two bowlers, for the time being and while it suits my argument, I will show the wise members of CW why the thin wiry one is a much better bowler than the short stumpy one with the really scary eyes.
Average vs Aus in Aus.
M. Muralitharan: 116.0
U. Chandana: 22.5
Wait, did that say "22.5"?
This of course in a continent notoriously harsh on spinners. Except at the SCG. Oh, I get it, Chandana's figures must be distorted by his figures at the SCG...wait a second!! He achieved these figures without setting a foot in Sydney!
Instead, playing on a seamer and one of the world's flattest pitches in Cairns and Darwin respectively.
Now for those willing to bring up Chandana's home record versus Australia, those who have watched the 1999 series will be able to testify (as I didn't watch, I find looking at Chandana makes me feel vulnerable about my body image) that Chandana bowled rather well, and this despite being affected by the political troubles surrounding him at the time.
If I remember correctly, in the prior series he got in line for seconds at lunch before the visiting Arjuna Ranatunga, and took the last helping. If this hadn't have happened, and we all are aware of Arjuna's ability to
throw his weight around in cricketing circles in Sri Lanka, then Chandana would have been able to settle into a rhythm without fear of being shot by a hired soldier, and therefore it can be concluded he would have bowled better than what he did anyway, taking more wickets and furthering his record versus Aus at the expense of Murali, who was able to capitalise on Chandana's worries.
In straight comparison of the pair's record versus Australia, it should be noted that Murali's strike rate is 17 balls more per wicket than that of Chandana, who's strike rate of 44 is as good as any bowler going around against Australia, I'm sure.
Now to be fair to Muralitharan, he has taken 532 test wickets. I mean, surely we can take something out of that. Well, when confronted with the fact that he's taken 431 of these against relative minnows, we can say that his figures are clearly distorted. He has taken only 19% of his wickets against batting line ups of any worth. In comparison, Chandana has taken 40% of his wickets against the top team in the world throughout his career.
What is particularly scary is the potential prowess of Chandana if he is let loose against Australia again. Having taken two five wicket hauls and one match haul of 10, if he were to play another, lets say for statistics sake, another 20 tests versus Australia at home or away, as being such a specialist versus this nation it is foreseeable that they will bring him out of retirement every time the baggy greens are up on the schedule, he will have 6 ten wicket haul versus Australia by this time, showing his potential for ripping through batting line ups. In comparison, Murali would only have 3. That's right, a measly 3.
What saddens me is that it is only the people of Empire Interactive that have truly seen the talent of Upul Chandana, where they maintain that his average consistently beat Murali's by a good 7 runs. As it should. If the young toothpick had have had more chances, he surely would be recognised as the man who casts a shadow over Muralitharan, instead of Ross Emerson.
The defence catches breath...and then rests, Your Honour.