MURALI NEVER FORGETS HIS ROOTS

Murali who has not forgotten his roots

The NDTV Channel of India who conducted a dialogue with former popular cricketer Mutthiah Muralitharan yesterday obtained a statement of views about the Tamil Nadu cricket issue. Though he is married to a girl from Chennai and though a Tamil, he spoke about Sri Lanka with respect on the occasion.

  He also spoke of how Sri Lankans helped him out whenever he got into difficulties. Though he realised the Indian announcer was trying hard to elicit and probe deeply into the issue concerned by asking several questions, Murali replied only by saying that this was an unnecessary political interference. The statement he gave to the Channel is as follows:
             "Chennai is like second home to me. That is my wife's birthplace. Today is a sad day for me, because our cricketers are not allowed to play in Chennai. We are there only to play. Politics is not relevant to us. I played for Sri Lanka for 20 years. I had no problem as a Tamil. Whenever I was faced with difficulties, they helped me out throughout my cricketing career. The public as well as the government too helped me. At that time we had a war going on. But now it's over. Everybody lives in peace".

Murali's interview as broadcast over NDTV is seen below.