Editing Muttiah Muralitharan (section)

===Bowling with an arm brace===
In July 2004 Muralitharan was filmed in England, bowling with an arm brace on. The film was shown on Britain's [[Channel 4]] during the Test against England on {{Nowrap|22 July}} 2004.

Initially, Muralitharan bowled three balls – the off-spinner, the top-spinner and the doosra – as he would in a match. Then he bowled the same three balls with a brace that is made from steel bars, which are set into strong resin. This brace has been moulded to his right arm, is approximately 46 centimetres long and weighs just under 1 kilogram.

TV presenter [[Mark Nicholas]] who tried the brace himself, confirmed that "There is no way an arm can be bent, or flexed, when it is in this brace." All three balls reacted in the same way as when bowled without the brace. They were not bowled quite so fast because the weight of the brace restricts the speed of Muralitharan's shoulder rotation, but the spin was still there.

With the brace on, there still appeared to be a jerk in his action. When studying the film at varying speeds, it still appeared as if he straightened his arm, even though the brace makes it impossible to do so. His unique shoulder rotation and amazing wrist action seem to create the illusion that he straightens his arm.<ref name="Murali bowling with brace"/>

The off-spinner said the exercise was to convince a sceptical public rather than sway an ICC investigation into bowling actions launched after he was reported by match referee [[Chris Broad (cricketer)|Chris Broad]] for his doosra delivery in March 2004, the third time action was taken on his bowling. In an interview for August 2004 edition of [[Wisden Asia Cricket]], Muralitharan stated "I think it will prove a point to those who had said that it was physically impossible to bowl a ball that turned the other way. I proved that it was possible to bowl the doosra without bending the arm."<ref name="Film clears my bowling action:">{{Cite news |last=Paxinos |first=Stathi |date=1 August 2004 |title=Film clears my bowling action: Murali |url=http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/07/31/1091080491359.html?from=storylhs |work=The Age |location=Melbourne, Australia |access-date=12 February 2008 |archive-date=5 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105194656/http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/07/31/1091080491359.html?from=storylhs |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2004 at the [[R Premadasa Stadium]] in Colombo, Muralitharan voluntarily performed a series of tests with live video cameras. [[Michael Slater]] and [[Ravi Shastri]] witnessed it all unfold. Muralitharan once again showed he could bowl all his deliveries including the doosra with an arm brace that prevents any straightening of his elbow. Orthopediatrician Dr Mandeep Dillon stated that Muralitharan's unusual ability to generate extra movement both at the shoulder as well the wrist enables him to bowl the doosra without straightening the elbow.<ref name="Film Murali in armbrace with Shastri"/>