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Updated on August 7th 2022, 5:16:54 pm

Muttiah Muralitharan vs Shane Warne bowling stats and comparison

In this article, check out comparison between the two spinners capable of single- destroying any batting line-up in knots. Take a look here at Muttiah Muralitharan vs Shane Warne bowling stats and comparison.

The two most successful bowlers in cricket history; two legends of the game; two spinners capable of single- destroying any batting line-up in knots. Their careers, for the vast majority, ran in parallel to one another, and between them, they amassed a huge 1,508 Test wickets as they terrorized batsmen around the globe.


And doing comparison between them is one of the hard work they both are equal on every level. Muttiah Muralitharan was used far more in the first bowling innings of a match than Shane Warne, bowling on average 34 first innings overs in comparison to Warne’s 24.7. When looking at the second innings’ of games Muralitharan’s average overs bowled actually drops to 29.18, whilst Warne’s remains almost identical at 24.9.


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Muttiah average of 22.72 is 2.69 runs better than Warne’s 25.41, his economy sits at 2.47 to Warne’s 2.65 and he also took a wicket every 55 balls bowled compared to the Australian’s 57.4. It is interesting to note the pair’s relative struggles (by their own exceptional standards) to left-handers. Looking deeper into it, remarkably, 609 of Muralitharan’s wickets were right-handers – a whopping 76.125% – whilst they account for 536 of Warne’s overall total, which was 75.71% of his victims.


At home Muralitharan averaged just 19.56, almost seven runs lighter than Warne’s 26.39. However away from home comforts, it was the leg-spinner who ruled, his average actually dropping in comparison to his home efforts to a figure of 25.5. Conversely, Muralitharan saw his average shoot up dramatically to 27.79.


Looking at their records in each Test-playing nation, we can begin to identify the places where the pair struggled in comparison to the other.


He averaged a huge 75.41 as a consequence of taking just 12 wickets in the five matches he played there. Indeed, it was the only country he did not take a Test five-wicket haul in. The only other two places where Warne had a better record than Muralitharan were South Africa (average of 24.31 compared to 26.02) and Zimbabwe (22.83 against 27.53).


To watch either man play without the presence of the other would have been thrilling enough; to watch them both throughout the same period was an honor.


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