A matchmaking website features a purported profile of the Sri Lankan off-spinner, an ethnic Tamil who is single and has said in the past he has no immediate plans for marriage.

"International Cricketer Muralitharan looking for a life partner," it reads. "Interested?" Then it lists several castes from which the 32-year-old sports star might find a suitable partner.

But Muralitharan said he had not taken to cyberspace to seek a bride, and the ad at www.tamilmatrimony.com must be a joke.

"It's not true," he told Reuters on Friday. "It must just be people making fun."

Long a hero in cricket-crazy Sri Lanka, Muralitharan has been increasingly in the international spotlight since becoming Test cricket's highest wicket-taker last month, by amassing 527 wickets in 90 Tests, ten more than Australian Shane Warne, and over investigations into his controversial bowling action.