'I have nothing personal against Murali' - Bedi

Reacting to the news that Muttiah Muralitharan was threatening to sue him, Bishan Singh Bedi was unperturbed. "I'm entitled to my opinion," he said. "In my opinion, he doesn't conform to the laws of the game and the ICC is squarely to blame for allowing him to get away with it," said Bedi, in an interview with The Hindustan Times.

An Associated Press report had quoted Murali's manager, Kushil Gunasekera, as saying that a few of Bedi's articles had been sent to his lawyers. When asked about it, Bedi said, "I have no lawyers. Let them send a letter, they will have to send a million letters to various people. They have to realise that I have nothing personal against Muralitharan."

"I have never met him, never said hello, never shaken hands with him," said Bedi. "How can I have something against him personally? I am talking about the spirit of the game being violated."

Bedi added that the fault lay with the International Cricket Council for allowing Murali to carry on with such an action. And he reiterated that Murali wasn't the only one with a dubious action, and that the ICC was letting them off too easily.

"The problem is not with the bowlers, it lies in the ICC's inefficiency to control them," he said. "What is the ICC up to anyway?"