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Muthiah Muralitharan would have been confronted with a bowling problem in Test matches had he not undergone surgery in his right arm.

The Sri Lankan ace spin bowler was operated just above the shoulder joint by an Australian surgeon at Victoria House, a private hospital in Melbourne recently.

Muralitharan suffered damaged cartilege as a result of a fall he had while fielding in Sharjah last December. Although he continued to bowl after that, his arm was getting stiff and painful.

Muralitharan underwent arthroscopic surgery on the injury which resulted in the removal of the damaged cartilege and a small piece of his collar bone, which would now give him a little bit more space to rotate his arm freely.

``The surgeon who operated on Murali said that he should be bowling between six to eight weeks,'' said Sri Lanka team physio Alex Kountouri.

Explaining Muralitharan's injury Kountouri said: ``After bowling about 10 overs, Murali's arm would be very stiff the next day. He wasn't able to push his arm quick enough and bowl faster as he liked. In a Test match he would really have a problem bowling 25 to 30 overs,'' said Kountouri.

In his seven years of international cricket, Muralitharan has become Sri Lanka's lynchpin, bearing the brunt of the bowling and taking over a century of wickets in both forms of the game.

Muralitharan was operated by the same surgeon who attended to Sanath Jayasuriya's broken right elbow bone.

Jayasuriya had a metal plate screwed on to hold his hand together after it was damaged in the World Series Cup game against Australia at Perth. The presence of a metal plate means Jayasuriya doesn't need any plaster on his hand.

``If you seem him now he looks normal because he doesn't have a plaster on. He is recovering quickly and has already started exercising his arm. The surgeon says he can start batting in about four weeks,'' said Kountouri.

The Sri Lankan physio said that it was optional for Jayasuriya to have the metal removed after he recovers. But it should be removed only after 12 months.

Both players who form an integral part of the national team will be sorely missed in the inaugural Asian Test championships where Sri Lanka meet India at the SSC on February 24 and Pakistan at Lahore on March