LAHORE, Feb 19: Former skipper of Indian cricket team Bishen Singh Bedi declared on Thursday that chucking was a greater threat to cricket than bribery and match-fixing.

"To me cricket is a gentleman's game but chucking is an unfair act and I believe Asian bowlers are more involved in it," Bedi claimed in a "Meet-the-Press" programme.

Bedi said Muralitharan of Sri Lanka was a chucker and Australia's Brett Lee did it occasionally. He deliberately avoided naming Shoaib Akhtar who too had been reported three times for suspect action.

He said every team had two or three chuckers and urged the International Cricket Council (ICC) to make strict rules to check this trend. "To me making the rules for the first or second stages of chucking by the ICC is unfair because chucking is chucking, and there should be no relaxation," he said.

He wondered how a bowler could rectify his action in a few weeks to avoid the second stage offence. Bedi was all praise for former Pakistan skipper Imran Khan and believed it would take decades to produce another Imran.

"Imran was a true professional cricketer. As captain he led from the front in the field and also in the selection matters and he knew the importance of physical fitness. It would be unfair to compare Imran with Shoaib Akhtar", he added.

Bedi admitted his team which toured Pakistan in 1977-78 was not properly prepared as compared to the team which was to visit next month. "In 1977-78, India sent the team only on a goodwill tour on the instructions of the then prime minister, but the current team looks strong and well prepared," he said.

He said the governments' role in suspending cricketing ties between the two countries was unfair and it should be stopped. Bedi regretted that non-cricketing issues like security had hijacked the game before the series had been decided.

He admitted that both the Indian and Pakistani players lacked mental toughness. Bedo praised Indian domestic cricket format as it was based on zones, but lamented that no one was ready to invest at the grassroots level there.

"There are many companies to sponsor Tendulkar and other stars but there is no one who wants to sponsor future stars," added Bedi, who is running a trust for cricket in India".

Reuters adds: Cricket's ruling body is commissioning research into the bowling action of spinners to counter suggestions that certain bowlers are being protected.

Sri Lanka off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, who has taken 485 test wickets, has been a particular target of Australian critics who have alleged some of his deliveries are illegal.

"The ICC is commissioning new research relating to spinners so that we have a clear, fact-based understanding of what actually takes place in a spinner's (action) and rather than solely rely on the naked eye or on TV replays which have proven to be deceptive," the International Cricket Council (ICC) said in a statement.

The research, under the direction of ICC general manager David Richardson, will take place later this year. "I would also emphasise that every umpire and every referee judges these issues solely on what they see in front of them," said ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed.

"From time to time there are suggestions made that a particular player is either targeted or protected. This is simply untrue," he said. "The ICC is committed to dealing with this issue and will continue to examine the best process to address any concerns."

In the past year three fast bowlers - West Indian Jermaine Lawson, Bangladesh's Sanwar Hossein and Pakistan's Shabbir Ahmed - have been reported for suspect bowling actions and undergone work to reshape their deliveries.