South African born, English cricketer, Kevin Pietersen has given a good insight into the truth that the most important things are not expressed in words or claims but in actions.Speaking from the Cricket World Cup in the West Indies, Pietersen compared the difficulties of facing the champion spinners in the game. He said:
“Muttiah Muralitharan is harder to face than the Australian leg-spinner. "He's a true great of the game. Muralitharan is the hardest bowler in the world to face, definitely - even more difficult than Warne," Pietersen said.
"Murali spins the ball both ways whereas Warney you can sort of counteract.
"It's just a case of watching the ball, trying to pick him and trying to hit your areas when you're facing Murali because he's a special bowler," added Pietersen in Antigua ahead of England's World Cup Super Eights clashes with Sri Lanka on Wednesday and Australia on Sunday.
"Murali doesn't say a lot," Pietersen said of Muralitharan, who has 674 Test wickets and is the second-leading wicket-taker in one-dayers with 443, trailing Wasim Akram's 502.
"He just winds you up and winds you up because he knows he's going to get you out.
"He just smiles and laughs.
"He's a really happy guy, a nice guy - I call him the silent assassin - he has so much talk on the cricket ball he doesn't have to say much."
Geoff Pound
Source: 'Pietersen says Murali better than Warne', Yahoo News, 3 April 2007.
Image: Muttiah Muralitharan, winding up the batsmen.