Kandy's favourite son
Bishwajit Roy from Kandy
The venue in Kandy may be one of the most unique in the cricketing world but for the city itself it is not the venue but their hero for whom they feel highly proud and it is none other than the champion off-spinner Muttiah Muralidaran, a household name in the hill-city. In cricketing circles the hill town is almost synonymous with the spin-wizard as the world has never seen such a unique bowler. Wicketkeeper cum batsman Kumar Sangakkara is the other big name in the city but still people love to say it's 'Murali's Kandy'. And what impresses everybody is that the success has hardly changed Murali as he is as simple now as he was in his childhood or early days. "A very nice and simple family," was the compliment from Janaka Pathirana, an official of the Central Province Cricket Association. "I am closely associated with his family for the last ten years and I don't find any change in him although he has achieved great success as a cricketer. He is as simple now as I found him from the very first day," said Suresh, sales manager of his father's company, Luckyland Biscuits. Murali's father, S. Muthiah, also believes that everybody loves his elder son not only for his success but also for his simplicity. "You know my son is the same man that he was before his success. He was crazy about cricket but he hardly had any ambition with the game in the early days. I feel proud because of my son's simplicity," said the 65-year old, the owner of one of the big companies in Sri Lanka. "You know we are Tamil but the masses love him very much regardless of caste and religion and everybody has taken him above all the controversy and conflicts. You can understand if I give one example: few years back my driver was summoned to court because of some problem with his license but the judge simply released him when he learnt that he was the driver of Murali's father," said Muthiah. "You know we sent him to England for higher study but he came back after a month as he thought that his career was not in studies but in cricket. He is a very responsible person and rarely gets upset, not even when he was in big trouble in Australia," he informed. It is not hard to find out the house of Murali in the city as the Kundasale area is well known as a residence of the superstar of Sri Lanka cricket. "Everybody knows the Muthiahs," confirmed the auto rickshaw driver, M Razeek.
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