The Indian captain realized Muttiah Muralitharan could a huge distraction and with sentiments involved, he does not want India to get soft on the wily off spinner.
mahendra singh dhoni at press conference
The first Test between India and Sri Lanka starts on Sunday in Galle. But Mhanedra Singh Dhoni has stated India's intentions rather forthrightly that while Murali's retirement was something that was playing on the minds of the Indian cricketers, on the field, they want to be thorough professionals, and win the Test, even if it means Murali does not touch the 800 Test wickets mark.
Dhoni spoke about the impending distraction, "Good luck to Murali, but we are here to win.
"We all know Murali is a great bowler and his achievements speak for themselves. More importantly, he is also a great human being and I cherish his friendship.
"However, this is Test cricket and we do not intend to give up our wickets easily. Our batsmen would like not to give him the opportunity to reach 800 wickets during the first Test."
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