Bishen Bedi versus Murali

By Rajadhyax

The leading wicket taker in the world and an erstwhile master craftsman of the cricket world have resumed their long-silent battle that promises to snowball into a major controversy. Literally hours after formally retiring from Test cricket, Sri Lankan off-spinner Muralitharan made disparaging comments about former Indian left-arm spinner Bishen Bedi. Bedi, a firm critic of Murali since the ‘chucking’ controversy, immediately hit back with some of his own pet comments.

In Bedi’s book Murali throws the ball since neither sudden straightening nor sudden bending of the arm was allowed by the ICC rule book. Bedi also takes refuge in the fact that Murali was held thrice by international umpires for chucking in separate instances at differing venues. He further elaborates that once the controversy went up to becoming a diplomatic issue between countries, the ICC took a ‘U’ turn and bent its rules to fit Murali and his ilk into conveniently altered rules about chucking. Whether ICC leaned backward to change their rule-book or not remains to be proven but what Bedi says has a number of ‘aye’ sayers. In fact quite a few cricketers I spoke to agreed with this view though they refused to be drawn into a public statement where they were more worried about spoiling their standing by naming the highest wicket taker a chucker.

Murali, on the other hand, counter punches by stating that the governing body of world cricket has allowed him to play Tests and corrective actions have also been taken. So as far as he is concerned the critics may go and fly a kite since the record books put him as the world record holder and no one can take it away from him. A little like Indian spinner Chandrasekhar, he has a freak action that permits him to rip the ball across the face of the bat on virtually all sorts of wickets, primarily leading to his rich haul in tests.

There are other detractors of Murali. Many Aussies, including Steve Waugh and Shane Warne are not exactly his fans. Their previous press statements having proven that already. Most Aussies seem to be cross that their umpires (Hair and Emerson) lost their credibility in the Murali issue. And to rub salt he overtook an Australian (Warne) to become a record setter. So most Aussies rate Warne as a much better spinner, even citing Warnie’s track record of getting wickets at all venues as a case in point. It is true that Murali’s wickets seem to have come more on the sub-continent and especially more against weaker oppositions like Bangladesh or New Zealand.

Murali came with a scathing attack on Bedi when he said, “In modern era, if he plays he will get hammered every ball; that is what will happen…. he did not have any variations. He just bowled left arm spin and pitch did the variations for him.” Frankly Mr. Murali that is stretching it too far. No one takes 266 wickets in 67 Tests because the pitch supported the man everywhere. I suppose, a man of your experience should know that. Lot of international batsmen of the era from Sobers to Gavaskar and Boycott to Chappell have acknowledged Bedi as a devious little bowler and you might as well stop that track of speech. It does not become you, nor is it in good taste. It also reeks of pure revenge for what the turbaned Indian said about you earlier.

Bedi retorts by saying, “I don’t ‘call’ Murali a chucker. He is a chucker.” Maninder Singh, another former India player and Erapalli Prasanna came to his rescue almost instantly. Maninder feels “Murali was given the license by the ICC to bend his arm. If he (Bedi) was allowed to bend his arm by ICC, he would have taken 5 wickets in every one of the 67 matches he played. Murali should keep his mouth shut really.” Prasanna stated, “Murali should have been a little more mature. He just can’t make such loose comments.”

Our only suggestion to Murali and Bedi is simple: both of you are master craftsmen of world cricket and as such you need to be circumspect, mature and analytical. If at all you want to debate, then at least argue on cricketing terms. Personal comments and petty vendetta does not suit an international cricketer. Cricketers thrive on their credibility even post retirement. Bedi lost his by making a lot of caustic comments about a lot of people in the past. Does Murali also want to go on the same path? Guys, don’t make it a free-for-all. Criticism is welcome as long as it is on cricketing technicalities. And if flaring tempers mean that you can’t keep it like that then spare us your mud-slinging and shut up!