Former Sri Lanka skipper Arjuna Ranatunga clarifies that he didn't mean match fixing in his recent Facebook rant about his country's 2011 World Cup final loss to India, but the manner in which his team combined and lost
Sri Lanka's Tillakaratne Dilshan is bowled during the World Cup final against India at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, on April 2, 2011. Pic/Getty Images
A week ago, Sri Lanka's petroleum minister was battling a strike that left major pockets of the island without mobility. When a group of Indian journalists descended on the building that houses Arjuna Ranatunga's current office, he knew that cricket, not petrol would dominate the conversation.
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The first port of call was his comments on the 2011 World Cup final. India beat Sri Lanka at Wankhede Stadium on April 2, but the fact that the visitors made widespread changes to their team to make up for the absence of Angelo Matthews raised eyebrows.
Arjuna Ranatunga
Non-existent controversy
Years later, Ranatunga rekindled a non-existent controversy with some inflammatory observations. Now, he is neither back-tracking nor re-affirming what he said. "When it comes to the 2011 World Cup final, I never said I was concerned about match-fixing. I said there were issues, address the issues. It is not my issues, the entire country saw it," said Ranatunga. "I am not taking the credit away from India at all. I can remember when I was seated with all the captains before the tournament, I said my heart says Sri Lanka but India has the best side. But unfortunately, the way we approached that game and some of the things that happened in the final, I was not comfortable. So I said, these are the things the ICC should get into. I never said match-fixing."
When pressed if the most prominent cricketer from Sri Lanka, a World Cup-winning captain no less, took his concerns further, Ranatunga was unusually coy.
Over to ICC
"I am not directly involved in cricket, I didn't want to get into details. I was doing commentary in India and I was seated with Kapil (Dev) during the final, and we all had a lot of answers," said Ranatunga. "And that's the reason I said these are the things not only the ICC but even our sports ministry should look into because when things are bad, you have to stop the rot straightaway, get rid of the cancer or it will spread into the entire system."
Having contested for the posts of president and vice-president of Sri Lanka Cricket, while being a politician and a cricketer, and still lost, Ranatunga might do well to realise that this is not his time. In the future, he might be the most important man in Sri Lanka cricket, but, for the moment, the petroleum minister is more than happy to stay away from the game.
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