Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan will have surgery on a career-threatening shoulder injury on Monday and is expected to be out of cricket for four months, his surgeon David Young said on Saturday.
World record Test wicket-taker Muralitharan has a type of cyst which has caused a build-up of fluid around the nerves in his right shoulder, Young said.
"We've advised him to have the surgery otherwise if it gets worse it could threaten his career," Young said.
The 32-year-old Muralitharan has taken 532 wickets, five more than Australia leg spinner Shane Warne.