Galle: English and Aussie fans have never had any respect for Muttiah Muralitharan but they can eat their heart out. Murali's action was cleared by the ICC and nobody can take away his records from him.

"There is no hatred between Australia and me because I don't believe in keeping hatred with people. People can do anything, you have to forget things and forgive people," Muttiah Muralitharan, leading wicket taker in Tests.

From having racist comments and even eggs thrown at him, Murali has dealt with everything that came his way.

"He probably would have chased him down. That's Murali for you. The guy has seen through tougher things than eggs and all that," said Mahela Jayawardene, Sri Lankan cricketer.

More than the questions about his action, Murali might be more worried about how he stacks up against Shane Warne who is considered the best spinner of all time being named as one of the five wisden cricketers of the century.

Murali may have more wickets, more five wicket hauls, and a better economy rate than Warne but here's where Warne has the edge: Warne only has 17 of his 708 wickets against the so called minnows while Murali has 176 wickets against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.

Warne went out on a high while Murali's form has been dipping lately, he was benched by Chennai Superkings during the IPL.

And he had one of his worst outings against India in the Test series at the end of last year.

But the man capable of producing lethal deliveries doesn't need any motivation to end his career on a high by getting to the 800 mark.

Muttiah Muralitharan has taken over eight wickets in each game he has played at Galle, so his fans and experts have no doubt that the smiling assassin would reach that magic number of 800 before he bids goodbye to Test cricket.