Muralidharan says he needs some quiet time

Sydney: Prime Minister John Howard denied on Wednesday that his description of Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralidharan as a “chucker” led to the champion spinner’s decision to snub a Test tour of Australia.

And Shane Warne, the Australian leg-spinner intent on surpassing Murali’s world-record 527 Test wickets, chided his rival as too “thin skinned” and urged him to ignore his critics and come to Australia.

The 32-year-old Murali announced on Tuesday that he would not join the Australia tour starting later this month for “personal reasons”.

But many linked Murali’s decision to criticism in Australia of his bowling action, notably from Howard — an avowed “cricket tragic” — who called the Sri Lankan a chucker after his doosra was declared illegal early this year.

Asked in a radio interview if his comments influenced Murali’s decision, Howard replied: “I don’t believe so.

“I made it very clear at the time that he was very welcome to... Come,” he said.

“He’s very welcome to come and he claims that there are personal reasons why he doesn’t want to come and I tend to believe that and that’s the information I have,” Howard said.

In an interview published on Wednesday in Sydney’s Daily Telegraph, Murali admitted that the intense scrutiny of his bowling action had played “a major part” in his decision to avoid the Australia tour.

But he declined to elaborate and insisted Howard’s chucker comment had not influenced him. “I just got to a stage where I needed some quiet time so that is why I am missing the tour. I would rather just leave it as personal reasons,” he said.

Howard defended his criticism of Muralidharan. “I relied very much on the findings of that examination that was carried out in Perth and the conclusion of that had something to say about the doosra,” he said.

Warne said Murali was wrong to snub Australia.

“He has a lot of critics, particularly in Australia, but you can’t afford to let the critics get to you,” he was quoted as saying in The Daily Telegraph.

Warne said Murali’s decision was “thin-skinned” and added that he hoped the Sri Lankan had not been influenced by his controversial former captain, Arjuna Ranatunga.

“Hopefully, he has not been listening too much to Arjuna, but he’s always stirring the pot,” said Warne. “I was looking forward to going head to head with Murali again. I’m really disappointed that he has decided not to come to Australia.

Murali’s UN campaign

Meanwhile, Muralidharan has agreed to help the United Nations in its fight against hunger by promoting awareness programmes, the UN said in a statement.

The UN World Food Programme said it will present “cricket legend Muttiah Muralidharan in his new role fighting hunger” in Colombo next week. “Murali brings his record-breaking reputation to WFP’s campaign to end hunger and poverty,” the statement said.