Muttiah Muralitharan confident of Sethupathi pulling off famous bowling action in biopic

Adding to the recently popularized trend of sports biopics, one on Muttiah Muralitharan is now in the works. One of Sri Lanka's preeminent bowlers, Muttiah Muralitharan's career and life have been topsy-turvy enough to merit a full feature film. Muttiah Muralitharan, who is currently in the UAE for the Dream11 IPL 2020 as the bowling coach for his ex-IPL team Hyderabad,  confirmed that popular Tamilian actor Vijay Sethupathi would be portraying him in the movie. 

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Muttiah Muralitharan's record '800' wickets

Opinions about Muttiah Muralitharan swing from one extreme to another. Some believe he is the greatest spinner to have played the game, while some are doubtful about his iconic/notorious bowling action. Opinions aside, from a statistical standpoint, Muttiah Muralitharan is certainly one the GOATs of the game. Making his debut in international cricket in 1992, Muttiah Muralitharan rose to the highest heights of Test cricket. In 2002, Muralitharan was rated as the greatest Test match bowler by Wisden's Cricketers' Almanack.

In 2017 Muttiah Muralitharan became the first Sri Lankan cricketer to be inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame. On the day of his retirement on July 22, 2010, Muttiah Muralitharan was one wicket short of completing a record 800 wickets in Test cricket. On the final ball of the final Test match of his career, Muralitharan dismissed India's Pragyan Ojha to register his landmark 800th Test wicket. The greatness of the record is made more evident from the fact that the second-highest figure on the list is 708. 

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Muralitharan biopic: Why Vijay Sethupathi?

Speaking on 'Cricket Live', Star Sports’ pre-match show at the Dream11 IPL 2020, Muralitharan said that once he read the script for the movie, he was sure Vijay Sethupathi would be the best fit. Of course, one of the biggest concerns regarding the portrayal would be whether Sethupathi would be able to nail Muralitharan's bowling action. Muralitharan said that he was convinced the actor will be able to pull off what is required of him. 

Even the actor was all praise for the spinner, calling him 'adorable' and 'lovable'. '800' is set to be shot partly in Sri Lanka, U.K, Australia, and India. Shooting will start sometime at the beginning of 2021 and will be released at the end of 2021. The film will be made primarily in Tamil and will also be dubbed in all South Indian languages, as well as Hindi, Bengali and Sinhalese. A version with English subtitles is also in the works.

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Image Credits: AP