Tens of thousands of Sri Lankan fans on Tuesday gave their hero Muttiah Muralitharan a final standing ovation after the home team reached the World Cup final by beating New Zealand. Muralitharan, 38, playing his last match on home turf, will retire on Saturday after the final in Mumbai, having played in four World Cups.
Fireworks were set-off at the R. Premadasa stadium - even before the end of the game - and screaming fans cheered as an emotional Muralitharan enjoyed a lap of honour. Record-breaking off-spinner Muralitharan earlier celebrated his last ball in international cricket at home with a wicket.
He had New Zealand's Scott Styris lbw off the final ball of his 10th over to finish with 2-42 after earlier dismissing Jesse Ryder for 19. He took his total to 534 wickets in 349 matches to add to his 800 Test wickets - another world record. Fans went wild waving placards of good wishes saying "thank you Murali", "you've done a great job Murali" and "Murali, we are so proud of you" as the wily spin wizard waved his blue cap to cheering spectators.
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