Muttiah Muralitharan Lashes Out At "Controversial, Ordinary Bowler" Bishan Singh Bedi

Sreelata YellamrazuJul 28 2010

This is not the typical Murali. He is not known to fight words with words. But perhaps retirement has given him a chance to have his say, and he does so against his long time detractor, Bishen Singh Bedi.

muralitharan with mainda rajapakse

The Sri Lankan off spinner ( seen in pic above with the Sri Lankan president, Mahinda Rajapakse ), who retired after the first Test against India at an all time high of 800 Test wickets, lashed out at the former Indian spinner and captain calling him "ordinary" and also, calling him prone to "controversy".

Muralitharan spoke out about Bedi, who has often labelled him a chucker and wanting the doosra to be banned, while lavishing praise on Anil Kumble. Here's a rare verbal whiplash from the wily off spinner:

"Bedi, I don't think he does not even come to a contest on that. I saw some (of his) bowling of his playing days. In modern era, if he plays he will get hammered every ball, that is what will happen. So no comparison. (Erapalli) Prasanna is a good bowler. I have seen his bowling. (Srinivasan) Venkataraghavan is good. But Bedi does not come under it. He (Bedi) did not have any variation. He just bowled left arm spin and pitch did the variation for him. That is what he bowled," referring to the spin quartet that also included VB Chandrasekhar.

"You forget the best spinner is Anil Kumble. Not Bedi or Venkataraghavan or any other. I think the best ever spinner produced (in India) is Kumble. No doubt about it and nobody can doubt it. Statistics-wise and on the basis of other things, he is far ahead than other guys.

"It (controversy) did not haunt me at all. I went through it and I have done what I wanted to do in my cricketing life. So no regrets. Nothing. I am very happy to retire (from Test cricket). If a player is fit to play he should play every format. The players careers are very short, they enjoy all form of the games. So the three forms of cricket will continue though Test is the ultimate.

"He (Bedi) is also a controversial person. He has lot of controversies everywhere in the world. And he should think about himself first rather than talking about other people."

On Brian Lara v Sachin Tendulkar, "Sachin and Lara have been the most consistent batsmen in the world (to face my bowling). I admire them. I have most regards for those two guys and now place Ricky Ponting also in that list. I don't know who plays me the better. They are different individuals. Statistics-wise Sachin is heading the pack. You can say Sachin is the best on that basis. But you see the other two players are great players, they are also legends. I think you cannot make comparisons. They play in different conditions and situation."

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