Charle Haviland Colombo

	"World cup is going to tough" says Murali

He was speaking to journalists as the publication of his autobiography, scheduled for next August, was announced in Colombo.

The book, entitled “800” after the number of Test wickets he took, a world record, will cover “what has happened in my life, the positives, the negatives, everything”, Murali said – although he joked that if it were too huge “nobody will be interested”.

World Cup not easy

Quitting international cricket after the forthcoming World Cup is “going to be tough, it’s not going to be easy, what you have enjoyed, you played for the last 30 years and you’re giving up”, he said.

But a sportsman had to retire while young, the 38-year-old said, and he will enjoy the family time that he has missed out on so far.

He will play Twenty20 club cricket with Kochi, Gloucestershire and possibly Wellington “just to enjoy myself”, he told the BBC. This would let him travel to new places and see new things with his family.

End of International cricket

	Murali had a tough career

But he would not go back to international matches – “that’s it”.

“I don’t want to deprive someone’s chances because I think there are younger bowlers there to come. So there can be another great spinner so I think opportunities are there for younger people.”

Muralitharan said the game had given him everything.

“If I don’t play cricket, today you won’t come and speak to me,” he said, laughing.

Obstacles in the career

“Playing cricket is like you’re learning life... you can come through everything in a game.

“[Only] when you have obstacles... you will try hard.

“I got a lot of obstacles in my career that I made into a positive thinking.”

The book, five years in the making, is being written in collaboration with the cricket writer Charlie Austin and the Australian coach Daryl Foster.

It will be published initially as a large-format limited edition by a new Sri Lanka-based publishing house, South Ceylon Publishing.