India are deserving No.1 in ICC rankings: Muralitharan

Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara might find the ICC rankings system flawed but the country's retired spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan feels it is alright and India are a deserving number one in the Test Championships table.

Sangakkara last month questioned the system and said it was not fair as the ICC had not devised a proper home-and-away format in its Future Tour Programme, hinting that Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men had not won series abroad against Sri Lanka, Australia and South Africa.

Muralitharan, who retired last month as Test cricket's highest wicket taker, had a completely different view on the system and said it was not necessary for a team to beat all other sides on tours before becoming number one.

"India deserve to be the number one Test side because they won a lot of matches. They won against Australia in Australia, they won against England in England and they drew the recent series in Sri Lanka 1-1," he told reporters on the eve of the launch of the Champions League Twenty20 in Johannesburg.

"You can't criticise by saying that the point system is not good. That means you are trying to find fault with everyone. When some team deserves credit it should be given, you have to be honest," Muralitharan said.

"I think you can't justify by saying that you have to win home and away and then only you can be the number one. When Australia was the number one Test side, they had lost a series against us in Sri Lanka. Only in 2004, Australia won a series against us in Sri Lanka," he added.

"I think the ICC have got a system in place and they have done it to the best of their ability. It is fair enough and whoever is number one under this, they deserve it. No system can be perfect. There are nine Test playing countries and if you try to play home and away matches by each country, it will take five-six years to rotate and it is impractical," he said.

Muralitharan refused to dwell much on his recent attack on former Indian captain and his untiring critic Bishen Singh Bedi and said "I don't care what the reaction is from other people" after his outburst.

"Whatever I have said, I have said. That's it," he replied when asked if he had planned the verbal attack on Bedi.

Asked if he was surprised by the criticism from former Indian cricketers like Erapalli Prasanna and Maninder Singh for his criticism of Bedi, he said, "I don't care what anybody says. Whatever I have said is said. Whether they take it or not I don't care."

Muralitharan retired from Test cricket at 37 and he feels age should not be a criteria in judging an athlete.

"I don't think age should be the criteria as long as you are fit. Performance is the criteria. Sachin Tendulkar is 37 and he is getting a century, double hundred and everything. I also took lots of wicket before retiring. Experience is the advantage in Test cricket though there should be balance. A mixture of youth and experience is ideal," he said.