He may not have had the same impact he usually has in this Test series, but Virender Sehwag wouldn’t write Muttiah Muralitharan off so soon. The world’s highest wicket taker has struggled to contain the Indians in this series, but Sehwag, who missed a World Record third triple hundred by just seven runs said that Murali still causes problems.

"It is difficult to write off Murali because it is still a challenge to bat against him. We try every time to dominate him, but we cannot do it and he ends up taking three to four wickets in every game. He is a very experienced bowler and he has the most number of wickets in Test cricket too. I think even if he bowls after retirement, even then it would be difficult to play him. Playing against Muralitharan is always difficult even when you are on 100 or 200 because he comes up with a magic ball that can get the batsman out any time," the Indian opener told journalists yesterday. Yesterday, Sehwag added just nine more to his overnight total before Muralitharan took a return catch to end his swashbuckling knock.

"I tried to take my time when I resumed this morning, maybe the ball was not there to hit. I tried to take a single off that ball, but I misjudged the length and hit it straight to Murali," he said.

He also expected the tourists, who still training by 322 runs to fight it out to save the Test Match.

"I think Sri Lanka is a good team and they will play well in the second innings because they have to save the Test match. Our bowlers will have to work hard a lot because you saw even when M.S. Dhoni and Pragyan Ojha were batting, they had a good partnership. The wicket is not that bad where you can bowl them out at once so, we will have to be patient."

M. Crowe (NZ) 299 Sri Lanka Wellington 1991

V. Sehwag (India) 293 Sri Lanka Mumbai 2009

V. Richards (WI) 291 England The Oval 1976

R. Sarwan (WI) 291 England Bridgetown 2009