Arujuna Ranatunga
Arjuna Ranatunga made his debut for Sri Lanka in 1982. He played in his country's inaugural Test and retired in 2000. In a career spanning 18 years he scored a mere 8 international centuries, whereas Sachin in almost a similar period scored about 86 international centuries. Yet Ranatunga's contribution to Sri Lankan cricket is no lesser than Sachin's contribution to Indian cricket. In fact Arjuna Ranatunga is to Sri Lanka what the lengendary warrior Arjuna was to Mahabarata
Early Career of Ranatunga:- Sri Lanka played their first test in 1982 of which Ranatunga was a member. Sri Lanka were the favourite punching bags for every team. In fact if you compare current Bangladesh team with Sri Lankan team in their early days, Bangladesh are a much better team. In fact prior to Chaminda Vaas & Muralidharan making their debuts, Ranatunga was Sri Lanka's number one bowler.
Ranatunga as a Captain:- Rantunga has to be considered the best captain ever in the history of the game if one considers the circumstances under which he was made the captain. He was given the reins of captaining Sri Lanka when they were the weakest team ever in the world. He showed tremendous confidence in his players and his players paid him back by making Sri Lanka the best team in the world. Muralidharan was never ever allowed to bowl by umpires, yet Ranatunga was vocal in defending Muralidharan who now has become the world leading wicket taker in the world in both forms of the game,. If it were not for Ranatunga, Muralidharam would have retired even before his career started. Ranatunga changed the way one dayers are played in the first 15 overs taking the theory of pinch hitting during power play to extra ordinary levels. The credit for converting a lower order batsman like Jayasurya into a legend also goes to Jayasurya. Had it not been for Rantunga Jaysurya would have reitred as a tail ender who can bat.
Rantunga as a batsman:- Rantunga though was a very good batsman did not get much opportunities to score centuries, as he hardly got a chance to bat. With Jayasurya & Kaluwitharana opening and De Silva in the middle order, the strong batting line up of Sri Lanka used to demolish opponments. Rantaunga therefore had to sacrifice for the sake of team. Yet he averaged 35+ in both forms of the game and used to average a half century in every fourth innings.
Ranatunga would forever be remembered as a captain who took the weakest team in the world and took it to the top of the world by winning the World Cup in 1996, and for creating legends out of Jayasuriya, Chaminda Vaas & Muralidharan.
Regards
Satish
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