Cricinfo - Blogs - Rob's Lobs - Muralitharan v Bedi

If there’s one priceless advantage an ex-player has over active ones it is that their tongue is not gagged and bound by fussy and over-sensitive administrators. They can fire both barrels with something approaching impunity. There is, however, the law of the land to contend with.

Most retirees, as members of a largely convivial transcontinental brotherhood who usually like nothing better than staying nice and friendly so they can land a plum post in punditry, choose not to step over the line distancing fair comment from needless and pointless abuse. Bedi, sadly, has long been one of those rare exceptions. I wonder why. Is it really that his sense of justice and fair play has been so grievously offended (in which case, surely he had already made his views on the subject abundantly clear a dozen times over)? Or might it just be that, like so many ex-players who see their records smithereened, being a good loser is no more a part of his repertoire now than it was three decades ago?

There is a precedent for Murali, albeit not a terribly encouraging one. In 1996, Ian Botham and Allan Lamb sued Imran Khan for libel after he accused them in print of ball-tampering and being "racist, ill-educated and lacking in class": they were not successful. The jury accepted by a majority of 10-2 Imran's claims that he had been misquoted and was only trying to defend himself after admitting that he had once tampered with a ball in a county match. Branded a "complete exercise in futility" by the judge, the trial left Botham facing an estimated legal bill of £260,000 and Lamb one for £140,000.

The difference between the two cases appears to be twofold: Imran did not accuse Botham or Lamb by name; he was also contrite. George Carman QC, his heavyweight counsel, informed the jury that his client had offered an apology to Botham and Lamb, insisting that he had been misquoted, and that he had been willing to send a letter to The Times for publication, to make that apology public. “Sorry”, however, seems to be Bedi’s saddest word. Mind you, to be fair, given that his darts have been aimed with such unerring accuracy and consistency, nobody would believe him if he did express any regrets.

Now it may just be that Murali’s extremely learned friends are taking him for a ride. To my almost certain knowledge, the concept of “no win, no fee” does not yet exist in Sri Lanka. Yet at the risk of sounding hopelessly naïve, I seriously doubt they are extracting the Michael quite so blatantly as that. Murali is an icon, a national treasure, a symbol of possibility in that beautiful but benighted island, its greatest gift to the planet since the tea plantations opened for business. Given the Botham-Lamb result, why even consider recommending such a costly plunge unless the President’s Counsel sincerely believed there was a decent chance of success?

Of course nobody wants to see such a case come to court, especially those of us who recall Bedi’s maverick spirit and unmatchably gorgeous action with huge affection and heartfelt gratitude. On the other hand, if you are also of the opinion that it may be the only way to silence those bitter snipers, bring on the wigs.

Editor's note: Unfortunately, we have had to disable comments from this post because many of them have been defamatory, racist and abusive.

What Murali does in return to those senseless remarks that others attach to his career is OK in my view. They may not match the logics and fairness, but in that case the entire chucking story is unfair, illogical and absolute abuse of power, authority and freedom of speech. I do not think that there was very much seriousness in accusing Murali in most parts in the world, other than sheer jealousy and shrewd attempts of keeping the underdog under the carpet. If not for his fighting spirit he'd have vanished under this carpet long time before.

Doing anything to counter the injustice, and making things straight in the process, is better than doing nothing. Murali may or may not win the legal case, but it would open up a path to counter deliberately biased, offensive and personal remarks that some people make ignoring the truck loads of facts which oppose their view. Freedom of speech does not entertain freedom of character assassination. Bedi just used prior for latter.

Murali is not only an icon in Cricket, but also a great idol of patient retaliation against injustice that exist in all sorts of human systems.

I completely agree with Bedi, just because people have a deformity ,they should not be allowed to hurl javelins instead of cricket balls.

Murali is by no means a 'clean' spinner, he is just using his wrist and never rolls his arm over.The ICC cleared him because there is a lot of fire in this part of the world , politics and moolah do play a part in this as well.To be fair to Bedi he has always said that Shane Warne is the greatest spinner to have graced the game , this man is absolutely fair and blunt in his views and is not blowing his own trumpet. I agree with him that their is a serious flaw in Murali's action and when he hurls a ball you instantly know 'this is not cricket'.

Murail should sue Bedi although i think nothing will come out of it. Bedi is known to make brash comments about everybody (SMG and Bhajji are his other victims) and it is time somebody paid him back a bit. Just because you are brash does not mean you are right and abusing someone continously like this is just bad wrong. Murali has undergone scientific tests to prove that he does not chuck, if bedi had any brains he would have tried to pick holes in the process that ICC uses to prevent chucking. But he does not want to do the hard work, it is so much easier just to sit and abuse people!! People like Shanoo should go and read a bit, in one of the recent tests by the ICC, Murali bowled with a brace on his arm which would have prevented him from bending it-he was still able to bowl the doosra. People should look at the evidence before crucifying murali, dont be like bedi.

Well, Before Murali, Bedi was a legendary spinner. Now Shnae Warne and above all Murali have arrived, and what happened to Bedi's reputation. Combine this with Bedi's attitude and his Australian "links". I notice that some people know that Murali is one day going to be the ultimate legendary spinner dwarfing all others including Wanre and Bedi. It is very obvious that people who cannot digest this fact including Bedi, Hare and the Australian PM are resorting to silly tacticks. Murali is the best spinner in history, as his records show. As for his action, well ICC has done enough tests and Murali's action has been cleared. If one cannot accept this then let them create there own "Cricket World".

It looks like a case of a dried up old has been, eaten up by controllable jelousy trying to have his moment in the sun. Looking at the stats, Murali's taken 700 wkts @ 21.33 with 20 10wkts hauls, whereas Bedi has taken 266 @ 28.71 and only once managed get 10 wkts in a match. Clearly there is absolutely no comparison (not sure why I even bothered looking up the stats) between these two as Murali is in a different league and will be a cricket who will be remembered for a very long time. I guess Bedi is trying to get a free ride by trying to associate himself in some way (any way) with a legend like Murali. If it wasn't for Bedi's mindless chatter, I am sure very few would even be aware of his existence.

you people write as if a deformity is some sort of fakery as oppose to a physical condition: "let him bowl with a straight arm, let him bowl with a normal action".

really now, how do you "straighten" or "normalize" something that is naturally bent? ...seems to me that people are still convinced that murali is faking a bent arm....or that he is superhumanly capable of straightening a bent bone.

And, ICC laws were not changed to accommodate Murli. read the biomechanics' report on ALL bowlers (including your warnes, kumbles, pollocks, bothams and Bedis) bent thier arm to a certain degree naturally. SO, the recommondation was to allow for that natural bent so that your joe spinner can bowl legaly not JUST murali

think; know your facts; write with some intelligence

I've long come to understand that there are people who will never accept Murali or his achievements. And I am fine with that; if someone wants to seriously think that ICC changed a law for the sake of one man from Sri Lanka, then go ahead. I'll pay for their tin foil hats.

Bedi, though, is treading on shaky legal turf. Yes, he does have a right to express his opinion, but to explicitly slander the achievements of one man repeatedly and to not expect legal action is naïve.

To his credit, Murali has refrained from saying anything in return to Bedi; he has been the very personification of class from the moment Darrel Hair opened this can of worms in 1995. The same can't be said of Bedi; the more vile comments he sprouts out, the more he will be viewed as a grumpy old man whose opinions will not be taken seriously.

I am really sad for B.S. Bedi. Here is a man that I loved to see but never saw though I conjured him up in my mind listening to commentaries of Trevor Bailey, John Arlott etc. There was a troika: Erippali Prasanna and Srini Venkatrahgavan. There was Eknath Solkar also in the corner as much as late Dilip Serdesai.

I guess the good old Sardar is a rabble rouser - the veritable bull in the china shop.

I think the best thing to do is to ignore the man. After all where he is now, compared to where he was then, he should be ashamed.

I also doesn't think that Murali's Manager may be trying to cash on him because no sooner Murali gets to the 1000 wicket, there could be no job for him. Kushil, use your head at least now - do not put your client down!

Murali to me is a personal hero, whether he goes forward or stops now. He is that just one icon in Sri Lanka that will bring the fighting in Sri Lanka, to a momentary standstill. A great role model - far, far better than Thondaman - for those estate workers who toil in the sun to make a good cuppa for the rest of us. To me, he is a pure joy to watch!

I think people like Bedi should be ignored and not given any importance. Mr.Bedi should understand where he is, how much he contributed to cricket compared to legends like Murali. Mr. Bedi was not even in the list of former captains whom BCCI asked to come for meeting. He criticizes every great player, even our own Indian all time greats like earlier it was Kapil, Ganguly, for that matter Harbhajan, and even Sachin. He is jealous with these players who earned more name and fame than he did during his playing days. He should also understand that he stands now where in front of these players..Just 265 wickets and how many matches he was a match winner i don't know, but Murali is far ahead of him and can spin the ball on any ground. When ICC has no problem with his action, what this person has..

Murali may well get a benefit from his deformity, but that does not make his action illegal. It has been demonstrated time and time again that he does not straighten his arm more than allowed (15 degrees was chosen as the lowest discernible angle). As his deformity is natural, there is nothing wrong with his action so Bedi is wrong. There is also nothing wrong with using a natural deformity to one’s ow advantage: one of Bedi’s contemporaries (Chandrasekhar) bowled I believe with an arm withered by polio which helped him give the ball a real rip.

However I am concerned about two issues:
1. I see young spinners attempting to imitate Murali. As they do not have naturally bent arms, they cannot control the degree of straightening, and are all chucking the ball. They are thus getting an unfair advantage and are cheating, but umpires do not now call them.(I have heard comments such as “only a spin bowler”, “no worse than Murali”). I think the ICC should have issued some sort of statement a long time ago to make it clear that Murali is an exception, not because of any bias or favouritism, but simply because of his natural arm shape.
2. What is to prevent somebody from actually undergoing surgery to impart just the sort of deformity that appears beneficial to Murali? That would be a sad day indeed.

Finally, whether or not he has benefited from the deformity of his bowling arm, Murali is a great bowler. We should appreciate his talent, his skill, his enthusiasm, just as we did with Shane Warne and Bishen Bedi in their day. It is pointless discussing who is the best spin bowler ever – all I know it is not me.

What is next ? Claiming that a thief did not steal because the police changed the definition of stealing ?

Each of Murali's examinations has been a sham. Do we get a defendant in an embezzlement case to sit inside Fort Knox with all the cameras trained on him and if he walks out of there without stealing anything after two hours, we adjudge him to be innocent of any crimes ?

Anyone can alter their action for the duration of a test when they know they are being watched very closely. The trick is to catch them in the act. If Murali's arm straightened 15 degrees in such artificial conditions, I am willing to bet it straightens by twice or even more in actual bowling.

Bedi is right. The ICC's greed and willingness to shred the laws on chucking are what have created this situation.

Murali is a Tamil like me, but I do not let that blind me to the merits of the issue.

I have to agree with Bedi on this.

Having a deformity and using it to one's advantage; well, if that's not unfair then what is! 10 degrees - 15 degrees was a baloney rule to start with and used very well by Dalmiya to get some leverage while he was the ICC head. The same can be said about Shoaib Akhtar. Every one knows that these guys chuck and I guess only the Michael Holdings, the Bedi's of the world have the guts to question them.

600-700 wickets for Muralitharan. Well it wouldn't be that long when the "golden" arm of his will mop-up 1000 wickets. I think I have more respect for Warne now in spite of his off-field antics are not a good example for a young cricketer.

But do we want more youngster's churning their arms like Murali? I guess not and most people will agree.

well i see a lot of indian and also sri lankan people have posted a lot of comments. well being a sri lankan india cannot even come close to the sri lankan bowling attack. and u guys are still looking for someone to open the bowling after kapil dev. thats a pretty sad story. a nation that is 67 times bigger than sri lanka cannot find a decent pace bowler or a decent spinner. bedi is just crying cos he got nothing better to do with his life. i mean come on the guy is just a critic thats all. i bet he didn't work for a living after he retired from cricket. let everyone talk and disrespect murali but he won't care so much cos the next time ur team faces him they will be walking back one after the other thinking how they got out. and for some ppl in here who said that shane warne is a better bowler than murali i don't think so at all. he's a dope head and u ppl still worship him. see how u guys go kiss the white man's a$$. he takes more cheap wickets than anyone i know. most of his wickets have come off playing england. now come on do the english know how to play spin?? they have a machine that someone invented just to learn how to play murali but it's still not working. if there's one player i hate from all the cricketers it has to be shane warne. cos he's such a cry baby and he thinks he deserves a wicket from every bowl he bowls. so all of u who wanna go kiss bedi and shane warne's a$$ plzz do so 2 of the most sorry a$$ pricks the world has seen so far.

Dont shoot the messenger. Watch Murali bowl.
Make up your mind, and be true to yourself!

If you've played even street cricket, you know what he's (Murali) doing. He might not have any control over it or do it on purpose, but it still is not right (irrespective of what the Univ of South Australia bio-mechanics experts say...12 degrees, 15 degrees, for heavens sake).

But, for that matter Harbhajan's is also weird to watch.

I dont think any of us say this of, say, Ramesh Powar or Saqlain Mushtaq.

Its too emotional for a lot of people and so out goes the objectivity.

Peace!

I'm not sure that Murali should sue Bedi. Comments like Bedi's should IMO just be ignored. But as long as the media continues to print them that is a little hard.
Whether Murali is bowling with a bend arm doesn't matter. As long as he doesn't change the bend during his action. Apparently all bowlers chuck to some degree, so the 15% limit seems fair to me. I'd rather watch cricket where the bowlers chuck within acceptable limits, than watch a game where the bowlers aren't able to get the batsmen out. As long as everything else in the game is so heavily in favour of the batsmen, let's keep the 15% rule so there's something in it for the bowlers as well. Otherwise, we could go back to uncovered pitches - or even better: water the pitch an hour before the game starts (and again during the lunch and tea breaks).
Wheter Murali is the best bowler ever is an impossible question to answer. How can we compare bowlers like Murali, Warne and Hadlee to Spoffoth, Lohmann and Barnes (and vica versa)?

Read the article, wen thru all the comments posted. With all due respect to everybody involved, I'd like to draw everybody's attention to one and only one thing, let's compare basic bowling action of any international bowler versus Murali's. Except Murali all the bowlers rotate their arm to get that momentum whereas Murali hold the ball in front of his chest and his hand goes up from there and the ball is delivered. Deformity in arm is one thing but atleast the action should be something close to bowling (the way other 99.9 percent international bowlers bowl) but I am afraid you won't find anybody able to bowl with that kinda action. Shoaib too was cleared for some exception in his elbow but aleast his action like all other bowlers. Whatever Murali has acheived is comendable. What ICC has done is something corrupt by accomodating these anamolies for whatever reasons which we might never know.

Bedi is simply trying to increase his own personal profile by dragging this nonsense up again. Within the game you sense that most current players like and respect Murali (including Warne who has the most to lose by his achievements). This must be because they recognize that he is not cheating (compare this with Billly Bonds in baseball where most players do believe he is a cheat and don't recognize his home run record).
Murali is loved wherever he goes in the world and is a national hero in Sri Lanka where he is a unifying force.His work for charity and his bravery in personally delivering Tsunami aid to the North despite the personal risk are well known here. He is good for cricket.
Bedi was half the player and is half the man Murali is. He should shut up and let s enjoy the genius that is Murali in the twilight of his career.

Bedi objects to Murali's action, which has been examined and cleared by ICC, but he has no objections to the actions of many other fast bowlers who also frequently flex their arms enough to qualify as chucking depending on where one sets the bar (this has been documented by ICC). Many great fast bowlers chucked quite a lot - but that was Okay as long as the eye could not detect it and the ball was delivered fast. Now, here comes a spinner whose action looks like chucking due to a physical deformity. Good Lord! How can the great Bedi allow a fellow spinner to do that! and that from a puny nation in the the sub-continent too! He must allow his former white masters to rule the game. What a wonderful colonial subject in a turban! Someone, please give him a role in a movie set as a slave.
What seems to have got Bedi's goat is either pure jealousy OR he is egged-on by lucrative bribe from Australian sports media who simply cannot accept the fact that their batsmen are often clueless when playing Murali.

There is something uniquely unnatural about Murali's bowling action along with Sohaib. When you see them bowl - comapring ALL the bowlers in the world - at the last instant whent they are going to release the ball they do so with a jerky action that is very different from the smooth release of ALL other bowlers of today. That all reasonable people will agre on. It is what it looks like.

Whether that is "chucking" or "shot-putting" is not what strikes the eye. Whether it is a deformity - my sympathies with the man - it is giving them an advantage. That is the question. Does Murali have an UNFAIR advantage - EVEN THOUGH IT COMES FROM A DEFORMITY. In overcoming his deformity does his arm have to move in such a way that it automatically - smply by the force of his deformity - that the ball leaves his hand in a manner that no other can acheive unless they deform their arm - which would mean changing their action to what would be considered outside of the rules. With Murali it is not just bending the arm, but the awkward-LOOKING wrist movement he has to use to release the ball.

This added question of the 'deformity' is a confusing factor. Can any other team go and find a particularly handicapped person, who when he bowls looks unnatural - he cannot help it - but gets the ball to move/turn/swing so viciously that no one can realy face it? The issue is not straight forward without being utterly insensitive.

But Murali's achevements will be forever clouded by this issue. Thus, Shane Warne looks the 'cleaner' of the two.

By the way, does anybody remember BS Chandrashekar a Bedi comtemporary who had polio in his bowling arm and bowled an almost unfaceable googly. His action did not look unnatural at all, although he brough his arm over with much greater speed than most spinners that always surprised batsmen.

Mruali is a great unplayable bowler. But those who know the likes of Bedi, Prasanna venkat etc. will agree that Bedi - no matter what his mouth says - was spin bowler of the highest order. Neither Murali nor Bedi should be judged by what their mouth does but by what their arm did/does. It is purely stupid to disregard either Bedi's or Murali's abilities because they cannot speak straight.

This is hilarious. I like Bedi. He does not have an plum job that he is chasing. He is not seeking lucrative contracts across continents. He is not seeking to safeguard his record -- his records have been long-since broken. He has a place in cricket history as one of the most graceful left-arm slow spinners to grace the game. And that is not under threat in anyway whatsoever!

So conspiracy theorists can take a hike.

Bedi loves the game and has always wanted to keep it simple and uncomplicated. He is also a bit of a clown and a maverick. He was one in his playing days and will remain one till his passing. He is also a stirrer. And such guys are needed in cricket. There is too much constrained-speak going on. Voices of dissent are not tolerated. And that is not, in my view, good for the game.

I remember when someone asked "Aap Murali ki Doosra ke baren mein kya sochthe hain?" ("What do you think of Murali's other ball?"). Bedi replied, "Arre pehla hi theek nahin hain to doosra ke baren mein kya bathaoon?" ("When the original ball is itself not right, what's the point in talking about the other ball?").

And that's where it all started. He has always had a grouse against Murali and the press continue to needle him for quotes. He calls a spade a spade and moves on.

I think Murali should just ignore this, as he has every other barb that has been chucked in his direction, and move on. He has his impressive bowling record and the ICC sanction to fall back on. Detractors will always be there. He just needs to bowl and enjoy his game...

The right to free speech becomes sadly meaningless and even 'dangerous' when one uses the tongue the way it bends in all directions. Free speech, yes at all times, but intentions should be for meaningful, positive ends. A cricketing genius like Murali and more importantly a very humble, pleasant human being like him does not deserve this kind of a mean treatment. When finally the matter was over a long time ago why does Bedi want to drag it again and accuse even the ICC? His remarks are very personal and defamatory. Why is he so angry with Murali? Any one would understand Murali’s sentiments, but still I have a feeling that he wouldn’t proceed much further to sue Bedi. Let’s at least hope so, not because Bedi doesn’t deserve it but simply because Cricket doesn’t need such actions.

It will be really interesting to have two spinners with a certain degree of disability in each team!
Murali is a die-ard cricketer, look at how he fields and enjoy when a catch is taken.. but stil when he bowls, we will have to agree that his arm is not moving as a normal bowler. It is a kind of chucking..even if it is a disability to a degree or anything.
I jut went thru some comments here where one guy is more interested in using the words like "A$$" ... silly guys.. take the thngs in its own spirit.. Bedi always makes some issue.. may be he is jealous, may be he is not.. but Murali is no a bowler to enjoy the full credits of a Legend Spinner or a Match Winner.. its very very clear from his bowling action.
ICC did a big mistake by clearing the action of subcontinent bowlers - Murali/Shoaib/Harbhajan..
And definitely Murali's records wil be always clouded!

Some people suggesting that Murali doesn't have good record against stronger teams. Here is a disclaimer to this. Follwing is a list of some of the so called strong team vs Murali
Aus 11 test 55 wickts at 5 wickets per match- not bad
NZ 12 test 69 wickts at about 6 wickets per match - very good
Eng 13 test 93 wickts at about 7 wickets per match - Exceptional
Frankly speaking a spinner should be measured against India and lets see how he performed against them
Ind 15 test 67 wickts at about 4.5 wickets per match at avg 32. Not great but ok.
Now lets see how the other great Warne has done against India
Ind 14 test 43 wickts at about 3 wickets per match at avg 47. Now that's really bad. I am not saying Warne is not a good bowler but Murali is better. As per as Bedi is concerned, he is a big mouth who wants to give opinion in everything. He is also always jealous about others. His jealousy of Gavaskar is legendary and now he is jealous of Murali (Usually this jealousy is pointed towards people from sub continent who he think are of his category and should not go beyond him). Murali is fully justified suing him.

Oh, so Murali's actions are against the Spirit of the Game. Sreesanth's beamers, KP's Porsche comment (who else in the England team is a big enough start to own a Porsche), the jelly bean fiasco, Aussie sledging over the last decade, Miandad waving a bat at Lilee, ball-tampering, match-fixing, Gavaskar walking off, the under-arm bowling, Zaheer Khan pointing with his bat, Holding and Co. deliberately trying to murder the opposition in the grovelling test, Prior/Sangakarra/Nayan Mongia's mindless blather is all fine.

Come to think of it, how much spirit is really left in the game. If you start banning cricketers for perception of spirit, you'd be playing stick cricket on cricinfo, because only computers are perfect cricketing clones.