Murali threatens to sue Bedi

Muttiah Muralitharan has threatened to sue Bishan Singh Bedi for making defamatory remarks regarding his bowling action. The Sunday Times newspaper in Colombo quoted Murali's lawyer as saying that Bedi's remarks were being studied, and that legal action was being contemplated.

An Associated Press report also quoted Murali's manager, Kushil Gunasekera, who said, "Bishen has always written very degrading articles calling Murali a cheat and all that stuff. We have taken serious note of those articles and sent them to his [Bedi's] lawyers."

Gunasekera added, "Bedi has always maintained that Muralitharan's bowling action was illegal and recently wrote in a leading sports magazine that cheating is a subcontinental trait. This is a very unfair comment to make."

Murali's lawyer, Dinal Phillips, confirmed that he had received instructions to go through the articles. "We are just looking into the articles, we have still not taken any decision," he said.

Bedi has long been a critic of Murali's action and even likened him to a javelin thrower. Murali recently threatened to boycott Sri Lanka's tour to Australia in the wake of unflattering comments from John Howard, the Australian prime minister.