Sri Lankan govt may issue special Murali stamp

PUNE (India) Fans in Sri Lanka want their beloved player Muthiah Muralitharan on postal stamps, said Honourary Sports Minister, CB Ratnayake. Talking to this scribe from Colombo, he said, We have received several requests from cricket-lovers to release special stamp on Muralitharan, who retired from Test cricket after grabbing 800 Test wickets in the first match at Galle. We shall discuss this (in cabinet meeting) and may issue notification to this effect, he added. Interestingly, the Philatelic Bureau of the Department of Posts in Sri Lanka did issue a circular stamp with a denomination of Rs. 5 when Muralitharan broke Australias Shane Warnes record of 708 wickets in 2007. That was the first time a circular stamp denoting the cricket ball and designed by an artist Pulasthi Ediriweera was issued in Sri Lankan history. This was confirmed to this scribe by HP Chandrakeerthie, the Senior Publicity and Co-ordination Officer. We had also released two different cricket stamps when our country won the World Cup in 1996, he further added. Murali was not available for comments as he is in Malaysia with his India-born wife, Madhi and from there will travel to South Africa for some Champions League (CL) promotion ceremony. Had Muthiah Muralitharan played for India, the two most important world records in Test cricket-highest aggregates of runs (Sachin Tendulkar) and highest wickets in Tests (Muralitharan) - would have been Indias property. Muthiah Muralitharan holds Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI), his manager, Kushil Gunasekera said from Colombo. It is like a Green Card or PR where he does not need visa for travelling to India. He qualifies to secure this status because of his family originates from India, the manager further added.