Ace Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan bagged his 500th Test wicket by claiming the scalp of Michael Kasprowicz on the opening day of the second Test against Australia in Kandy.

Muralitharan became only the third bowler in Test history to achieve this landmark after West Indian Courtney Walsh and Australia's Shane Warne (who did so in the first Test of the current series in Galle).

Murali is the fastest among the three members of 500-wicket club.

Walsh needed as many as 129 Tests for his 500 wickets, while Warne achieved the feat while playing in his 108th Test. Murali's 500th wicket came in his only 87th Test. Incredible indeed!

While Murali's performance in away matches is quite impressive, his performance at home is mind-blowing. He has taken 176 wickets in 36 away matches at an average of 4.88 wickets.

In home matches, he has 324 wickets in 51 Tests at an average of 6.35 wickets per match with 28 five-wicket innings hauls and 10 ten-wicket match hauls!

No wonder Steve Waugh called him the 'Don Bradman' of bowling.

A statistical review of Murali's performance in Test cricket:

Performance in each series:

Opponent	Season	M	Balls	Mdns	Runs	Wkts	Ave	Best	5WI	10WM	SR	RpO
Australia	1992-93	2	439	12	225	4	56.25	2-109	-	-	109.75	3.08
New Zealand	1992-93	1	313	9	156	7	22.29	4-134	-	-	44.71	2.99
England	1992-93	1	366	15	173	5	34.60	4-118	-	-	73.20	2.84
India	1993-94	2	283	12	136	4	34.00	4-136	-	-	70.75	2.88
South Africa	1993-94	3	1045	47	356	16	22.25	5-101	2	-	65.31	2.04
West Indies	1993-94	1	95	4	47	4	11.75	4-47	-	-	23.75	2.97
India*	1993-94	3	860	20	420	12	35.00	5-162	1	-	71.67	2.93
Pakistan	1994-95	1	282	6	165	1	165.00	1-123	-	-	282.00	3.51
Zimbabwe*	1994-95	2	522	28	168	3	56.00	2-60	-	-	174.00	1.93
New Zealand*	1994-95	2	516	35	141	7	20.14	5-64	1	-	73.71	1.64
Pakistan*	1995-96	3	826	27	410	15	27.33	5-68	1	-	55.07	2.98
Australia*	1995-96	2	552	10	348	3	116.00	2-224	-	-	184.00	3.78
Zimbabwe	1996-97	2	633	27	195	14	13.93	5-33	1	-	45.21	1.85
New Zealand*	1996-97	2	486	17	241	6	40.17	3-43	-	-	81.00	2.98
Pakistan	1996-97	1	318	19	98	6	16.33	6-98	1	-	53.00	1.85
West Indies*	1996-97	2	588	32	247	16	15.44	5-34	2	-	36.75	2.52
India	1997-98	2	888	31	369	9	41.00	4-99	-	-	98.67	2.49
India*	1997-98	2	726	38	311	3	103.67	3-174	-	-	242.00	2.57
Zimbabwe	1997-98	2	851	49	262	17	15.41	7-94	2	1	50.06	1.85
South Africa*	1997-98	2	839	30	400	16	25.00	5-63	1	-	52.44	2.86
New Zealand	1997-98	3	930	41	374	19	19.68	5-30	2	-	48.95	2.41
England*	1998	1	683	41	220	16	13.75	9-65	2	1	42.69	1.93
Australia	1999-00	3	847	24	349	15	23.27	5-71	1	-	56.47	2.47
Zimbabwe*	1999-00	3	995	50	329	9	36.56	3-44	-	-	110.56	1.98
Pakistan*	1999-00	3	1279	50	516	26	19.85	6-71	1	1	49.19	2.42
Pakistan	1999-00	3	684	28	306	12	25.50	5-115	1	-	57.00	2.68
South Africa	2000-01	3	1366	52	480	26	18.46	7-84	3	1	52.54	2.11
South Africa*	2000-01	2	669	28	260	12	21.67	6-39	2	1	55.75	2.33
England	2000-01	3	1416	66	421	14	30.07	4-66	-	-	101.14	1.78
India	2001-02	3	1065	51	444	23	19.30	8-87	2	1	46.30	2.50
Bangladesh	2001-02	1	271	10	111	10	11.10	5-13	2	1	27.10	2.46
West Indies	2001-02	3	1306	53	536	24	22.33	6-81	3	2	54.42	2.46
Zimbabwe	2001-02	3	1219	84	294	30	9.80	9-51	2	1	40.63	1.45
Pakistan*	2001-02	1	354	17	127	8	15.88	4-55	-	-	44.25	2.15
England*	2002	2	756	32	297	8	37.13	5-143	1	-	94.50	2.36
Bangladesh	2002-03	1	268	12	98	10	9.80	5-39	2	1	26.80	2.19
South Africa*	2002-03	2	611	19	251	7	35.86	3-83	-	-	87.29	2.46
New Zealand	2002-03	2	971	59	320	13	24.62	5-49	1	-	74.69	1.98
West Indies*	2003-04	2	460	14	209	9	23.22	5-138	1	-	51.11	2.73
England	2003-04	3	1390	109	320	26	12.31	7-46	1	1	53.46	1.38
Australia	2003-04	2	555	18	260	15	17.33	6-59	2	1	37.00	2.81
-	TOTAL	87	29523	1326	11390	500	22.78	9-51	41	13	59.05	2.31

(* away series)

Performance against each country:

Opponent	Tests	Balls	Mdns	Runs	Wkts	Best	5WI	10WM	Ave	SR	RpO
Australia	9	2393	64	1182	37	6-59	3	1	31.95	64.68	2.96
Bangladesh	2	539	22	209	20	5-13	4	2	10.45	26.95	2.33
England	10	4611	263	1431	69	9-65	4	2	20.74	66.83	1.86
India	12	3822	152	1680	51	8-87	3	1	32.94	74.94	2.64
New Zealand	10	3216	161	1232	52	5-30	4	0	23.69	61.85	2.30
Pakistan	12	3743	147	1622	68	6-71	4	1	23.85	55.04	2.60
South Africa	12	4530	176	1747	77	7-84	8	2	22.69	58.83	2.31
West Indies	8	2449	103	1039	53	6-81	6	2	19.60	46.21	2.55
Zimbabwe	12	4220	238	1248	73	9-51	5	2	17.10	57.81	1.77
TOTAL	87	29523	1326	11390	500	9-51	41	13	22.78	59.05	2.31
At Home	51	17801	838	6495	324	9-51	28	10	20.04	54.94	2.19
Abroad	36	11722	488	4895	176	9-65	13	3	27.81	66.60	2.50

Mode of dismissals:

Mode	Home	Away	Total	%
Bowled	85	37	122	24.40
Caught in the field	139	84	223	44.60
Caught behind	20	7	27	5.40
Caught & bowled	13	7	20	4.00
Stumped	17	10	27	5.40
LBW	50	30	80	16.00
Hit-wicket	0	1	1	0.20
TOTAL	324	176	500

Murali's bunnies:

Batsman	Country	Dismissed
GW Flower	Zimbabwe	10
Waqar Younis	Pakistan	9
MV Boucher	South Africa	9
Yousuf Youhana	Pakistan	8
DJ Cullinan	South Africa	7
GP Thorpe	England	7
JN Rhodes	South Africa	6
MN Samuels	West Indies	6