Sri Lanka woke up on Friday to a life without Muttiah Muralitharan. For the first time since 1992 the captain, players and selectors will realise, over the next few months if not just weeks, the full extent of what the absence of Muralitharan means to the team. His 67 five-wicket hauls and 22 ten-wicket hauls speaks volumes of his skill and acumen but doesn't tell the full story.

Of Muralitharan's 800 Test wickets, 438 have come in the 54 Test matches that Sri Lanka have won. Of these, 305 have been taken in 37 Test wins at home. Chaminda Vaas, next on the list of Sri Lanka's wicket-takers in Tests has 355 wickets in his career.

Even this does not present the complete picture. How much the loss of Muralitharan will hurt Sri Lanka can be gauged, perhaps, when the second Test begins at the Sinhalese Cricket Club from Monday. On the final day of the first Test at Galle, Muralitharan bowled 27 of the 57 overs the visitors notched up. His strength, beyond taking wickets, also lay in the ability to bowl hours on end without getting tired or letting up the intensity.

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Unconventional Ajantha Mendis, if picked for the second Test, will go into the match with 44 wickets, while left-arm spinner Rangana Herath has 71 against his name. Off-spinner Suraj Randiv is yet to play a Test match.

Lasith Malinga, their strike bowler, has 98 wickets but unlike Muralitharan can bowl only in short bursts because of the excessive load his action puts on his body.

"My theory is that I am not going to look for another Muralitharan because you are not going to find one. There'll be just one. He played 18 magnificent years of Test cricket and he's been the best bowler ever to play the game. For me, leading out the side without Murali in Tests is a huge loss.

"It gives us an opportunity to see how really the other bowlers will be able to give us Test wins. I don't think anyone is going to take us eight-fors and nine-fors for us regularly. They might to do it once in a while," Sri Lankan skipper Kumar Sangakkara said after the Galle Test.

Former Test batsman and current chief national selector Aravinda de Silva thinks that it will take a while for the side to adjust to the departure of Muralitharan.

"A player like Muralitharan comes along possibly only once in many generations. It will be difficult to find someone who can fill the void created by him. We do have good spinners in our ranks, including Ajantha Mendis but it will take a while before we get used to not having Muralitharan around," de Silva said after Muralitharan hung up his Test boots.

Ranjit Fernando, the former wicket-keeper batsman and now selector said: "We have to see how it goes without Muralitharan around. It will be a challenge as well as an opportunity for the others."

The man himself was confident that someone would take up the responsibility. "It is very difficult to say who will succeed. Each one is different. Can't really say.

"I think our dressing room has three good spinners and they will take the team to a better position. I haven't thought of doing anything for cricket. I don't think they will require me, because there are a lot of people to do a job," Muralitharan said, when asked about a future without him.