Android : Save item ID (R.id.itemName) in SharedPreference?

I'm trying to save user selected sort option in the SharedPreference

@Override
public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {
    switch (item.getItemId()) {
    case R.id.submenu_sort_alpha:
        displayListView(db.getAllPlaces(DBAdapter.KEY_LABEL));
        item.setChecked(true);
        prefs.edit().putInt("com.xxx.yyy.selectedSort",
                    R.id.submenu_sort_alpha);
        return true;
    case R.id.submenu_sort_alpha_desc:
        displayListView(db.getAllPlaces(DBAdapter.KEY_LABEL + " DESC"));
        item.setChecked(true);
        prefs.edit().putInt("com.xxx.yyy.selectedSort",
                    R.id.submenu_sort_alpha_desc);
        return true;
        ...

And restore it when menu is created

@Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
    MenuInflater inflater = getMenuInflater();
    inflater.inflate(R.menu.main_activity_actions, menu);

    int selectedSort = prefs.getInt("com.xxx.yyy.selectedSort",
            R.id.submenu_sort_alpha);

    menu.findItem(selectedSort).setChecked(true);

But the code is not working as expected. (Or should it work?)

If it should be working, is it good habit to save item id in SharedPreference? Or should I just assign unique numbers to each option, save it in SharedPreference and then set the radio button as checked by checking with long 'if else' code?