Sunrisers Hyderabad bowling coach and legendary Sri-Lankan spin bowler Muttiah Muralitharan underwent cardiac treatment. The 49-year-old spinner went through an angioplasty on Sunday at a Chennai-based hospital and was reported to have discharged today.

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An Indian Express source was quoted telling ANI, “A blockage was detected at the end of March. So, it (angioplasty) was a routine procedure that was supposed to be conducted. He is doing well.”

Meanwhile the Apollo Hospital, Chennai, issued a medical bulletin on Monday, April 19 in which it stated that, “Former Sri Lankan cricket player was admitted for cardiac evaluation at Apollo Hospital, Greams Road, Chennai on 18.04.2021. He underwent successful coronary angioplasty with scents yesterday under the care of Dr. G Sengottuvelu. He will be discharged today and would resume his normal activities.”

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The celebrated career of Muralitharan

One of the most iconic moment in Muralitharan’s cricket career was his contribution to his team and leading it to World Cup victory in 1996.

Being the underdogs of the tournament, the Sri Lankan team players defeated Australia in the final by 7-wickets. Muralitharan took 7 wickets in the tournament and gave away 68 runs at an average of 19.63.

Another interesting highlight of Muralitharan’s career was his outing against India in Sharjah in 2000. It was then that the legendary spinner created the record for the most number of wickets in men’s one day international. In his spell of 30 overs, he took 7 wickets and led his team to victory.

The more he played, the better he got as he went on to create the record for the least number of Test matches to reach 500 wickets. He achieved that feat in just 87 matches.

Reaching 800 wickets

But perhaps, he saved the best of him for the last game that he was to play. It was his 133rd and final Test ever which was set against India in 2010. Playing at 792 wickets thus far, most Sri Lankan fans had given up on any hope that Murali would touch the 800 mark in his final Test. Day one, day two and day three came and went, without Murali taking a single wicket. The hopes of 800-wickets was diminishing with every passing session.

However, in the last two days, everything changed. The Sri Lankan legendary bowler took the wicket of Indian legendary batsman Sachin Tendulkar. After Tendulkar it was Dhoni’s turn as the spinner bowled the latter out and Murali ended taking 5/63 in the first innings.

His 768th wicket came in the form of Yuvraj Singh and for the 799th wicket it was Harbhajan Singh that came and went. India was nine down and all the eyes were fixed on Murali. Finally, Murali struck gold as he bowled Ojha out and took his 800th Test wicket.

In 2017, Muralitharan made another record. He became the first ever Sri Lankan cricketer to be inducted in the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame. Although it came as no surprise as with Murali it was a case of when and not if he would be inducted.

To this date, he remains as the highest-wicket taker across both ODIs and Test matches. Murali threw the towel after his team lost to India in the 2011 Cricket World Cup. In his ODI career spanning over multiple decades he took 534 wickets.

Post retirement

After he retired from One Day and Tests, he initiated another stint. This time with Indian Premier League. In the initial editions of IPL, he was bought by CSK. Later, he was bagged by RCB in 2012 and played till 2014 for the team. Since 2015, he has been mentoring the bowlers of Sunrisers Hyderabad as a bowling coach.