Winning the World Cup is my ultimate dream: Murali

Bridgetown, Barbados, Apr 27 (UNI) In a subtle message that he could play spoilsport to Australia's dream of an unprecendented three titles in a row, Sri Lankan spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan has announced that winning the World Cup is his ultimate dream.

''It will be the biggest achievement of my career if I play a role in it. It would be a bigger achievement than all my individual records,'' Muralitharan told reporters here today.

He said a World Cup title ''will act as an inspiration for youngsters for a team of different nationalities and help tide over the problems our nation faces.'' ''When we did it in 1996 I was very young and did not know what it takes to win the World Cup. Now I know how tough it is to do it,'' he said.

According to Murali, there were not many similarities with the team of 1996 which first won the World Cup beating Australia in Lahore with the present one in the Caribbean.

''We were also then a team which was very good in chasing down targets. In contrast, the present team has the strongest bowling attack ever assembled in a Sri Lankan team,'' the 35-year-old off-spinner said.

Murali, who is on course to become the highest wicket-taker in Test history, feels he has come a long way.

''I was only 22 in 1996 and didn't know much about my craft. I did what I was asked to do and picked six or seven wickets. It's different now.'' He also returned Australian captain Ricky Ponting's jibe that he (Ponting) could ''handle'' him if he survives the first over of Lankan spinner.

''If I am on song, I can get anyone out. Sometimes I can dominate and at other times he (Ponting) dominates as he is also a great batsman. But if I have my nose in front, nobody can stop me,'' Muralitharan said.

He also dismissed suggestions that he was non-effective against the world champions.

''I took 27 wickets in three Tests against Australia at home. Yes, in comparison New Zealand has more problems from me but that doesn't mean Australia find me easy.'' Murali, however, rated the present Australian team as far stronger than the one he had faced in the 1996 final.

''This side is now a far more dominating side. But we try to stick to our brand of cricket. It's not as if we can't dominate -- we did it completely against England recently but we try to stick to our style of cricket.

''If we can stick to our plan and get settled, we can be more dangerous because we have more shots,'' he added.

UNI