colombo, sri lanka (ap)

Sri Lanka off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan became the leading wicket taker in one-day international cricket yesterday when he had Gautam Gambhir caught behind during the fourth one-day international against India.

"I've had a great career and I think it's a great achievement," Muralitharan said.

The 36-year-old, playing in his 328th ODI, had to wait until his last over of the innings to surpass the previous record of 502 wickets taken by former Pakistan paceman Wasim Akram.

Muralitharan now has 503 wickets at an average of 22.75. He is also the leading wicket taker in test cricket with 769 from 125 tests.

"It's a great achievement for Sri Lanka (because) this is a smaller nation when you compare it to other (cricketing) nations, so it's a great thing to achieve this," Muralitharan said.

Muralitharan dedicated the record to his family.