At the age of 41, Test cricket’s greatest Test wicket-taker says he’s still learning the shortest form of the game.

Muttiah Muralitharan has returned to Australia to don the red of the Melbourne Renegades in the Twenty20 Big Bash League – which starts on Friday night – and is keen to rectify their fade-out from last season.

The Renegades finished top of the table at the start of this year but exited at the semi-final stage with a loss to fourth-placed Brisbane Heat.

Off-spinning legend Muralitharan, who boasts 800 Test wickets for Sri Lanka, has whittled his international commitments down to three T20 tournaments a year in England, the West Indies and Australia but believes he’s still a student of the format.

“I’m also learning because it’s a new game,” Muralitharan said on Monday.

“It’s very hard to have tricks in Twenty20 because it’s a game that changes every ball.

“In Test cricket you can plan your way, in Twenty20 you can’t plan you just have to react to the situation.”

Despite his humble attitude, Muralitharan is enjoying his cricket as much as ever because of the relaxed format and expectations.

He expects the Renegades will continue a spin-heavy bowling attack, which unsurprisingly he supports.

“Spinners will win you games… the more you play spinners the more opportunities for your team. Last year we proved that,” he said.

Ahead of a potential partnership with Pakistan-born Victorian Fawad Ahmed for the Renegades, Muralitharan said the former asylum seeker still had a “long way to go” before he was of Test class.

“He has the talent but he has to go a long way to play a Test match,” Muralitharan said.

“It’s not easy because you’re playing against the best of the best and you have to minimise your loose balls, those are the things he has to learn.”

The third season of the Big Bash kicks off with a Melbourne derby – the Renegades against the Stars – at the MCG on Friday night before the SCG hosts a Sydney derby on Saturday night.