Muttiah Muralitharan is regarded as the greatest off-spinner of all time and the leading wicket-taker in Test cricket. So, it must mean something if someone of his calibre praises and appreciates your bowling, right? Apparently not all of the time. Former India spinner Nilesh Kulkarni remembered receiving a good luck wish from Muralitharan, but it went horribly wrong.
Kulkarni, a left-arm spinner who played three Tests and ten One-Day Internationals for India between 1997 and 2001, made his debut in the infamous Test against Sri Lanka in Colombo in 1997 – the same match in which Sri Lanka piled up 952/6 declared and sent the Indian team on the hunt for leather. Kulkarni would have an unforgettable debut, as he picked up a wicket off the first ball of the game, dismissing Marvan Atapattu caught behind.
“Marvan (Atapattu) and Sanath (Jayasuriya) were off to a flying start. We had about an hour to bowl, and the goal was to get a couple of wickets. I had no intention of bowling. The last over was supposed to be bowled by Rajesh Chauhan, but Marvan took a single in the last couple of balls of the previous over, prompting Sachin (Tendulkar, the captain) to change his mind and go with a left-arm spinner bowling to a right-hander. He called and asked me to bowl while I was changing my fielding position “Kulkarni stated to Sportstar.
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“I wasn’t really prepared because I hadn’t had time to prepare. As I handed the umpire the cap, he informed me that I had less than two minutes to bowl the first ball. It was a blessing in disguise that I didn’t have enough time to completely destroy the debut. All I could think about was “don’t embarrass yourself, bowl the right ball and hit the right length so that your debut is memorable.” I simply did it. Fortunately for me, Marvan was having aggressive innings and wanted to go after the bowlers and dominate. He attempted the cover drive, and Nayan Mongia made the catch.”
But, as it turned out, that was Kulkarni’s only success of the match, as he finished with figures of 1/195 from 70 overs. Kulkarni met Muralitharan in the hotel lobby at the end of the day, where the former spinner had a message for him. However, as Kulkarni points out, everything after that went in the opposite direction.
“I had no idea it was a record,” Kulkarni said of his first-ball wicket. “We were all content. The day was canceled. We were returning, and I was throwing down a few batters. I was completely unconcerned until a few press reporters arrived and informed me that it was a world record and that I was the first from India. That’s when it hit me that something had changed in my life. In fact, after the day’s play, I ran into Muralitharan at the hotel, and he said, “Well done, and good luck for the next three days.” I had no idea that I wouldn’t get a wicket for the next three days.”
The match ended in a tie, with both teams scoring 1489 runs in two innings. The pitch at R Premadasa Stadium was heavily criticized, with then-India captain Tendulkar questioning the nature of the wicket and highlighting whether such pitches were good for the future of Test cricket.
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