Batting

Although he usually comes in at No. 11 for the Sri Lankan national team, Muralitharan is an extremely entertaining batsman known for his tendency to back away to leg and slog, which brought him his highest Test score of 67 against India at Kandy in 2001, including three sixes and five fours. He has made valuable scores on occasion, including 30 runs against England at the Oval in 1998, including 5 fours, 38 runs (4 fours, 1 six) against England at Galle in 2003, 43 runs (5 fours, 3 sixes) against Australia at Kandy in 2004 and 36 runs against the West Indies at Colombo in 2005.

Muralitharan was run out in controversial circumstances by New Zealand wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum at Christchurch in 2006. After his batting partner Kumar Sangakkara reached his century, Muralitharan grounded his bat and went to congratulate Sangakkara. However the ball was not yet dead, allowing McCullum to complete the run out. New Zealand Stephen Fleming defended the run out, although the Sri Lankan team and many others did not consider the dismissal to be in the spirit of the game.