Legendary Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan is arguably the best spinner to play the game. Apart from playing for the country, the spin wizard represented a couple of franchise teams including the Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League. Recently, Muralitharan opened up on his stint with CSK and said he always wanted to play for them.

The off-spinner joined the Super Kings in the inaugural edition of IPL in 2008. He played them for three seasons before moving to now-defunct Kochi Tuskers Kerala. The MS Dhoni-led team purchased for Rs 4.5 crore at the auction. In those three editions, Muttiah Muralitharan picked 40 wickets from the same number of games.

Murali represented CSK for three years

In a recent conversation, Muralitharan opened up about his affection for CSK. According to him, he enjoyed spending time with the local players from Chennai as they could speak in their own language.

“Captaincy is about respecting the captain, whoever it is. We have to go by his decision. I prayed that if I come to the IPL, I have to go to Chennai, as I thought there will be Chennai people in the team,” Muralitharan said on the show Mind Masters by MFORE on Star Sports Tamil.

“So, at that time, there was a good rule, where local players had to be in the team. The first three years was the best of the years because we could speak in our own language. We were around 7-8 people and even VB sir (VB Chandrasekhar) was there who selected us,” he added.

Adding further, Muttiah Muralitharan picked CSK as the best franchise he has played. The off-spinner has also represented Lancashire for almost six-seven years. Muralitharan has also played in the CPL and BBL.

“I have played even for Lancashire for 6 to 7 years, but I’d say that Chennai Super Kings was the best franchise I have played for,” he added.