Veteran SriLankan spinner Muralitharan set to be Governor

Colombo: Sri Lankan cricket legend Muttiah Muralitharan is set to become the governor of the country's Northern Province after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa personally invited him to accept the post, local media reported on Wednesday.

The ace spinner, is among the three new governors tipped to be appointed by Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who had registered a thumping victory in the recent presidential election. 

"President Gotabaya Rajapakse had personally invited Muralidharan to accept the post of the Governor of the Northern Province," the Daily Mirror quoted sources in the Presidential Secretariat as saying.

The report said Anuradha Yahampath would become the governor of the Eastern Province and Tissa Vitharana would take charge as the governor of the North Central Province.Yahampath is the chairperson of the Nationalist Entrepreneurs Association and a Director of a reputed garment export company while Vitharana is a former minister and the leader of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) and also a specialist doctor.

Muralitharan, 47, was rated the greatest Test match bowler ever by Wisden Cricketers' Almanack in 2002. He retired from Test cricket in 2010. He also holds the world record for the most wickets in both test (800) and  one-day cricket (534) . In 2017, he became the only Sri Lankan to be inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame. (UNI)