‘Motor-Mouth’ Muttiah Muralitharan Among Most Annoying Players: Russell Arnold Recalls in Jest

Muttiah Muralitharan was the ‘most annoying’ player in the Sri Lankan team which earned him the name ‘Motor Mouth’, former Sri Lanka cricketer Russell Arnold has recalled in jest.

Remembering love-hate relationships in the team, Arnold recalled how Muralitharan would ‘annoy’ incoming and outgoing batsmen in the side whenever a wicket falls.

“There were plenty of love-hate relationships – fun at times and annoying on other occasions. Speaking of annoying, Murali [Muttiah Muralitharan] was most definitely one. He was called MM (Motor Mouth). At times, when a batsman returned after getting dismissed, he would go and chide him for playing a particular shot. If a batsman were padded up to bat next, he would go up to him and advise him not to play the same shot [and get out],” Arnold said during the chat show Homerun with AV with sports commentator Arun Venugopal on his YouTube channel Gethist Creative.

Arnold added that Pramodya Wickramasinghe, the former pacer, was a prankster.

“Ravindra Pushpakumara was another interesting character. He wore only one pair of socks for the duration of a Test match. I don’t need to tell you what that would have been like,” he said.

“Pramodya Wickramasinghe was a prankster. He was very dangerous in that he would make prank phone calls. One day he [posing as someone else] called up Murali and asked him to come and run the peace talks. For a full day, Murali was at pains to explain that he was a cricketer and not a politician. It was only after a week that Wickramasinghe revealed he was the caller!”

On a serious note, Arnold was full of praise for Muralitharan saying he was a a ‘top-class’ man.

“He had a top-class influence with his performances. Apart from that, he is a superb human being with a beautiful heart,” he said. “Murali might say something in the heat of the moment, but within five minutes he would realise that he had been in the wrong. If you are looking for a friend in times of distress, look no further than Muralitharan. He’s a top-class man.”