Muralitharan to drag Bedi to court


New Delhi: Sri Lankan off-spin legend and Test cricket's second highest wicket taker Muttiah Muralitharan is planning to drag former India skipper Bishan Singh Bedi to the courts.

Muralitharan's lawyers are all set to file a defamation suit against Bedi after the former off-spinner had recently said that the Sri Lankan bowler was taking advantage of his physical deformity and that the International Cricket Council had "created a monster" by allowing him to continue to bowl.

Muralitharan’s manager Kushil Gunasekhara had a series of meetings on Sunday with lawyer Sudath Perer reagarding the law suit.

Media reports quoted Perera as saying, "We are writing a letter to Bedi and, if needed, he will be dragged to court."

Sri Lanka Cricket had also come out in support of Muralitharan, who is also the highest international wicket-taker with 1,157 scalps, and said that Bedi's remarks were made with an intention to "harm the bowler’s reputation and achievements".


Update

Muralitharan demands $6.7 mn from Bedi

Colombo: Muttiah Muralitharan has demanded millions of dollars from former Indian spinner Bishan Singh Bedi as damages for making "derogatory" comments questioning Muralitharan's bowling action, an aide said on Tuesday.

"It's a letter of demand that we have sent (Bedi)," Muralitharan's manager, Kushil Gunasekera, said.

Gunasekera said Bedi had recently commented that Muralitharan bowled with an illegal action, and called him a "cheat".

The International Cricket Council has created a "monster" of Muralitharan and set a bad precedent by not taking any action against him, Gunasekera quoted Bedi as saying.

"These are derogatory (remarks), and of a personal nature," Gunasekera said.

He said Muralitharan's lawyers have demanded 750 million Sri Lankan rupees ($6.7 million; €4.9 million) from Bedi as damages.

Bedi, 60, was an accomplished left-arm spin bowler during his playing days in 1960s and 70s. In 67 Test matches he took 267 wickets.

The controversy comes with Muralitharan just eight wickets away from a world record for highest number of Test victims, surpassing retired Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne.

Muralitharan's success at international cricket comes from his exceptional ability to turn the ball, using a wristy action and an elbow bent since birth.

His 15-year career has been surrounded by controversy since 1995, when Australian umpire Darrell Hair called him for "chucking" during a Test match in Melbourne.

His action was subsequently cleared by an Australian biomechanics expert, but was no-balled again in Australia in 1998 and reported by English match referee Chris Broad in Sri Lanka in 2004.

The ICC, after a major investigation, ruled that his action is legal.


Update

Bedi, Ranatunga indulge in war of words

Mumbai: The scathing remarks on Sri Lankan off-spinner Muthiah Muralitharan by former Indian skipper Bishen Singh Bedi seems to have snow-balled on him with Murali’s former skipper Arjuna Ranatunga indulging in war of words with the left-arm spin legend.

After calling Murali, the second highest Test wicket-taker in the world, "the best shot-putter in the history of cricket," Bedi is reported to have hit back at Sri Lanka’s World Cup winning captain Arjuna Ranatunga, who is a staunch supporter of Murali for calling him an idiot, who is only after some publicity."

"Ranatunga is a bigger idiot because he, as a captain, created the ruckus regarding the chucking issue. I would like to believe that I played the gentleman’s game in a gentleman way and I would not like to respond to that rotten Sri Lankan," Bedi has been quoted as saying by MiD-Day here on Friday.

Earlier, Ranatunga had told the tabloid that Bedi just wants publicity and prominence and I think the media should just give him that.

"The Sri Lankans don’t care about Bedi’s comments because he has not praised any Asian cricketer. I respect him as a cricketer, but I know what kind of a person he is. He has said something even against Harbhajan Singh in the past. Has he said anything good about even Anil Kumble or Sunil Gavaskar. He always praises the Australians. I don’t know what connection he has with them," he wondered.

Meanwhile, Muralitharan has threatened to file a defamation case if Bedi does not pay up the compensation amount of 3.4 million Pounds for calling him a chucker even after the International Cricket Council (ICC) had cleared him.

Bedi had accused Murali last week of killing the game with his suspect action.

"People like him are just killing the game and nobody is doing anything about it. Murali will complete 1000 Test wickets, but they would count as mere run outs in my eyes because he is the best shot-putter in the history of cricket," Bedi had said.


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