Murali sought 7 million dollars as legal damage from Bedi

Colombo, Aug 15 (UNI) Sri Lankan off spinner Muthiah Muralitharan has sought a legal damage of 7 million dollars from former Indian captain Bishen Singh Bedi for comparing him with a ''shot putter'', sources here said.

Tired of constant jibes from the Indian left arm spinner, who recently called him ''the best shot putter'', Muralitharan had sent a letter of demand to Bedi through his manager Kushal Gunasekara.

According to sources lawyers have worked out a value of about 7 million dollars.

Bedi, a hard nosed critic of Muraltharan, has earlier said ''Murali, who I called the best shot putter, will go on to become the highest wicket-taker of all time. That for me is not right.'' ''If you are a blind person, will you be given a chance to fly a plane? He uses it to his advantage. You have to bowl with the shoulder, but Murali don't use it, he uses his arm.

''Sachin Tendulkar has got 37 centuries, Don Bradman has got 29.

How many five-wicket hauls has he (Murali) got under his kitty? Sixty-five, this is ludicrous,'' he added.

The 35-year-old Muralitharan's career has been plagued with controversy. Suspicions about his action came to the fore soon after his debut against the Australians in 1993. He was called for throwing while touring Australia in 1995-96, first in the Boxing Day Test at Melbourne by Darrel Hair and then in the one-day series that followed.

He was cleared by the ICC after biomechanical analysis at the University of Western Australia and at the University of Hong Kong in 1996. It was concluded that his action creates a 'optical illusion of throwing'.

The Sri Lankan off spinner needs just nine more wickets to overtake Shane Warne's record of 708 Test wickets.

UNI