It doesn't any more. Murali will never be topped as the greatest wicket-taker in the world. We should rejoice that we have seen him spin his craft.
Murali has forever changed cricket, never mind set an unreachable mark. Bowling now is very different than it was just three years ago. The introduction of the 15-degree rule has seen to that. What Lance Gibbs couldn't do, Murali and his contemporaries can.
The ICC has conceded to a rule change that allows Murali and any other finger spinners to impart more spin, drop and swerve on the ball. It also permits the doosra, a ball bowled from the top of the hand which spins the other way. The limited armoury of any offie has been tripled.
A fast bowler, too, can now bowl quicker with a more pronounced flick of the wrist. It does not matter any more whether this is right or wrong. It is law and the fight to prevent such a dramatic change has been lost. So we must celebrate what it has delivered.
Sports radio SEN morning broadcaster Andrew Maher said yesterday that to understand how difficult it was to weave Murali's magic, listeners should go down to the local nets and see if they could replicate his tricks. It would be disappointing if anyone could have done it.
Bankers, bakers and butchers bowling doosras and quick-dipping off-spinners on the way to work somewhat diminishes Murali's feat of topping Shane Warne's record in 29 fewer Tests.
Maher would have done better to ask his listeners to see if they could bowl the doosra without substantially bending the elbow. If anyone was able to achieve that feat they are reading this column in the emergency ward of their local hospital. It is impossible without blowing the elbow and cracking the wrist.
He was well-intentioned. Maher was telling his audience to congratulate Murali and appreciate the genius we have witnessed. That is the correct and generous sentiment. Murali does not throw the ball.
We are in a new era. Bowling is a new skill. Records should show how many wickets bowlers took before the 15-degree rule was introduced and how many they managed after. Because before and after are two different sets of skills.
It is not a bad thing that quick and slow bowlers alike have more scope to baffle and dismiss batsmen.
The game has swung so violently in the favour of batsmen in Test cricket, with shorter boundaries, heavier bats, better body protection and knowledge that a good length is determined not by the bowler but the batsman's mind-set.
The 50-over game is just ritual humiliation for bowlers and Twenty20 no more sophisticated than bear baiting. But it is popular and entertaining and continues to flourish around the world.
So much so that we will play fewer and fewer Tests, thus ensuring Murali's immortality.
Yesterday, The Times correspondent Simon Barnes struck first, asking in The Australian that everyone prepare themselves for the resentment of Murali's feat that would explode from Australia.
Barnes might have missed former India captain Bishen Bedi's weekend claim. It was a measured observation that throwing was now a bigger scandal than match-fixing.
Barnes said that he had also written: "I said Murali's action had been authorised, which means you can't quarrel with Murali, only the laws of cricket.
"I said those who pick this quarrel must be prepared to argue about the angle between the longitudinal axis of the upper arm and the forearm in the sagittal plane."
Hey, Simon, who hasn't written that before?
Bowling to Barnes is a most difficult task, one even beyond Murali. When Barnes faces up you only have two stumps to hit, for the middle one is stuck firmly up his backside.
Barnes also likens Murali's world record to Bodyline, a tactic that he argued exposed the shortcomings of Don Bradman. So much for logic. That you placed nine men on the leg side, a bunch of them behind square leg, allowed Harold Larwood to throw the ball at the head of the batsmen, be they openers or tailenders, you fancy points more to the shortcomings of the bowling attack than it does the batting line-up.
But Barnes was right, in part. Former Australian Test umpire Colin Egar said yesterday that Murali's record should be discounted and that he can document that Murali bends his elbow as much as 48degrees.
Former off-spinner Greg Matthews believes Murali can straighten his arm and so the argument that the Sri Lankan's bowling arm is permanently bent is nonsense.
Mostly, though, Barnes would be disappointed. Australia has appreciated Murali for the artist that he is and does not begrudge him his record. Certainly it has been a more considered response than the frothing whinge from England officials and players that forced Ian Meckiff out of the game.
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