'Doosra is like the other woman in a man's life'

"What do you call the other woman in a married man's life?," asked former Indian skipper Bishen Singh Bedi, during the course of an interview with the Gulf News.

"She is called the doosra. Cricket and social existence go hand in hand. So the doosra is dangerous in cricket as well as in life," added Bedi while expounding his views on the chucking controversy.

Bedi, a former left-arm spinner with arguably one of the smoothest bowling actions in the game, feels that "the cricket ball is meant to be bowled, and not thrown like a javelin. What surprises me is the International Cricket Council's (ICC) efforts to protect these chuckers, who are now floating around in international cricket.

"I feel no bowler with an illegitimate action should be allowed anywhere near a cricket stadium."

On whether physical deformities should be considered as an excuse, as in the case of Muttiah Muralitharan and Shoaib Akhtar, Bedi said: "Whether you have a deformity or not, you should bowl according to the rules of the game. If you are born blind, you cannot fly an aircraft.

"Similarly, if you have a deformity you will not be selected to join the air force or army. Rules of the game are not meant to be bent on compassionate grounds."

According to Bedi, the ICC has made a mockery of the chucking issue.

"The ICC is a governing body and not a body meant to reform people. I am surprised at their decision to seek the technological help to spot a chucker.

"For example, if two people are walking towards you and one of them is limping, the human eye can tell there is something wrong in one man's walk. Similarly, in bowling if a bowler is chucking there is no need to find out whether he is chucking 10 or 15 degrees.

"Bowlers without a clean action should not play the game. A chucker is a chucker and there should not be any halfway mark," he added.

Bedi also called for urgent action against chuckers. "Youngsters are now beginning to emulate these renowned chuckers. Chucking is more dangerous than match fixing. It is something which the ICC is allowing to happen right in the middle.

"Cricket is directly related to fairness, honesty and uprightness. That is why we use the saying 'that's not cricket'. If the ICC is going to muck around with the rules, then surely it's not cricket."

Bedi expressed shock at Muralitharan's statement saying that he would continue to bowl the doosra and he would appear for another hearing if the ICC reports him.

"The chuckers have no respect for the governing body. This has happened because the ICC has bent their backs to accommodate these culprits," he said.

"What has surprised me is the attitude of some well known cricketers-turned-commentators. Some even appreciate an over from a chucker knowing very well that he chucked all the six balls. "A thief is a thief. You cannot be a five or 10 percent thief," he concluded.