Murali's 400: A timeline

Murali claims the ball after reaching 400 wickets

BBC Sport Online takes a look back at the career highlights of Sri Lanka's spin bowling star Muttiah Muralitharan.

August 1992 Makes debut, aged 20, in second Test against Australia in Colombo. First scalp is tailender Craig McDermott. Also dismisses Mark Waugh lbw for a first ball duck in Australia's second innings, but the match ends in a draw.

August 1993 Claims five for 104 in South Africa's first innings at Moratuwa, the first time he has taken five wickets in an innings in a Test match. His victims include Kepler Wessels, Hansie Cronje and Jonty Rhodes.

February 1994 Reaches 50 Test wickets when he has India's Navjot Sidhu caught by Ruwan Kalpage in the third Test at Ahmedabad, but Sri Lanka lose the game by an innings and 17 runs.

Australia's Ian Healy is beaten all ends up

March 1995 Helps Sri Lanka to a 241-run win in the first Test at Hamilton by taking five for 64 in New Zealand's second innings. They eventually win the series 1-0.

March 1997 Returns to Hamilton and collects his 100th Test wicket when he bowls Stephen Fleming for 59, one of six victims in the match but Sri Lanka lose by 120 runs.

April 1997 Bowls 53 overs for figures of six for 98 in the first Test against Pakistan in Colombo.

January 1998 Picks up 10 wickets in a Test match for the first time with figures of 12 for 117 against Zimbabwe at Kandy. He follows five wickets in the first innings with seven for 94 in the second as Sri Lanka win by eight wickets.

March 1998 Muralitharan takes 16 wickets in two Tests in South Africa, but Sri Lanka lose both games.

Match-winner at The Oval

August 1998 The best performance of his career to date as Muralitharan takes 16 for 220 to help Sri Lanka win a one-off Test against England by 10 wickets at The Oval. His second innings figures of nine for 65 are the eighth best of all time and he passes 200 Test wickets with the dismissal of Ben Hollioake.

Feb/March 2000 Sri Lanka win 2-1 in Pakistan with Muralitharan taking 26 wickets in the series. His best display comes in the second Test at Peshawar where match figures of 10 for 148 see his side to a 57-run triumph.

July 2000 South Africa are beaten by an innings and 15 runs at Galle as Muralitharan takes 13 wickets in the match, six for 87 in the first innings and seven for 84 in the second. Again takes 26 wickets in a three-match series.

December 2000 Takes his 300th wicket against South Africa at Durban, having Shaun Pollock caught by Tillekaratne Dilshan. It has taken him 58 matches. Only Dennis Lillee (55) has reached the milestone faster.

September 2001 With the series all square 1-1, Muralitharan bowls Sri Lanka to an innings win over India in Colombo, taking eight for 87 in the second innings and 10 wickets in the match.

Another batsman bites the dust

Nov/December 2001 Sri Lanka achieve a 3-0 clean sweep in their first full series against West Indies on home soil. Muralitharan claims 11 wickets in the opening Test, 10 in the second and ends the series with 27 victims.

January 2002 Takes all nine wickets to fall on the opening day of the first day of the second Test against Zimbabwe at Kandy. Fails to become only the third man in history to take all 10 in a Test innings when Chaminda Vaas dismisses Henry Olonga, but claims 13 for 115 in the game, equalling Richard Hadlee's record for 10-wicket hauls in 15 less matches. Rated number one bowler in world Test ratings.

15 Jan 2002 Becames the youngest bowler in Test history to claim 400 wickets when he bowls Olonga in Galle. The 29-year-old takes the wicket with the third delivery of his 4,010th over in the 72nd Test of his career, the shortest time for any bowler.