Ranatunga: Sri Lanka cricket is in a major mess

World Cup winning Sri Lanka cricket captain Arjuna Ranatunga fears the sport in the island nation is heading for disaster because of unprecedented political interference and corrupt administrators. “I’m sure the way we are going, we’ll end up being 7 or 8 in the Test and one-day rankings. Luckily for us we are a talented nation because of that we survive,” said Ranatunga who was saddened at the plight of cricket in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka Cricket, once the richest sports body in the country, has run up a debt of $69 million, mainly because it constructed two new grounds and renovated a third for the World Cup held earlier this year. Even the salaries of contracted players were not paid for several months. “Political interference is the key for our disaster. It has never happened like that. I think we are so lucky, in our days the president or prime minister they never interfered in sports like the present president (Mahinda Rajapakse) did. They used the cricketers for his benefit. For his campaign they used the cricketers as advertisements,” said Ranatunga, now an opposition legislater in Sri Lanka’s parliament. “Presently cricket is run by people who are controlled by the president and government. They will do whatever the president or government wants to do. Whether it is right or wrong is immaterial,” he said. “We built three unwanted cricket grounds for the World Cup and spent about 72 million dollars and the board is bankrupt. People say they are not (bankrupt) because they have taken loans from the banks,” he added. “I’m sure that the investment we should have done to promote cricket in outstations is lacking now because they don’t have enough money to do that. They don’t have money to pay even the ladies cricket team. The club cricketers are struggling. You feel very sad for the game and country but what can you do. You can only talk about it but no remedial action is taken,” said Ranatunga who regularly raises the issue in the local media and even in parliament. “Some of newspaper and TV channels are even scared to publish my views because they will be threatened,” he said speaking on the sidelines of an event held in Dubai where he was guest of honour. He said the malaise afflicting cricket was a reflection of the status quo of the nation. “It’s in a major mess. It’s not only cricket, the whole country is in a major mess. I always say to get cricket right you have to get country right,” said Ranatunga whose battle against corruption is somewhat similar to that waged by Pakistan cricket great Imran Khan. “I admire Imran a lot. I learnt a lot from him to tell you honestly. I admire his politics and guts,” said Ranatunga of the Tehreek Insaf leader. Among the many ills plaguing Sri Lanka cricket he cited was the evil influence of the Indian Premier League (IPL). “We are the only country which says go and play IPL without playing for your own country. What is the message you give to the younger generation,” he said. “We had scheduled a three-Test series against England but they cancelled one Test because of IPL. The three one-dayers were also cancelled because of IPL. When we go to England next summer we will get only two Test matches. Who loses by this, the younger generation not the present lot,” said Ranatunga who made his Test debut for Sri Lanka as an 18-year-old schoolboy in the inaugural match against England in 1982. Asked why he did not come forward to serve Sri Lanka Cricket without criticising from outside, he said: “I did not want to contest elections because we knew this was conducted by the government. Even if I had contested they might allow me to win but they might have people for other positions with whom I might not be able to work,” he said. He is so disillusioned with the existing set up that he feels a change of government is the only solution. “I’m sure we need a different government to get it right,” said Ranatunga who was a member of the ruling party earlier. A former cricket board chief, he was forced to quit because he exposed corruption at higher levels of government. “In 2008 I never allowed people to take money away from cricket board. A former minister sent one of his party bills to celebrate his 25th anniversary in politics. He wanted the cricket board to sponsor his tea party. I said nothing doing. Cricket board money is there to promote cricket not to give it to the politicians. So those are the issues. They have spent money on political campaigns. Luckily the president’s sons did not play cricket,” said Ranatunga cynically. Rajapakse’s sons Yoshitha and Namal represent Sri Lanka in rugby with the appointment of the former as captain causing a withdrawal by several star players during the ongoing Asian Five Nations Division 1 tournament being held in the Philippines. “Sometimes I prefer not to think of Sri Lanka cricket or not to worry because ultimately you will get sick,” said Ranatunga who scored 5,105 runs in 93 Tests and 7,456 runs in 269 one-dayers before quit international cricket after the 1999 World Cup. Asked what was his remedy was to cure the ills prevailing Sri Lanka cricket, he insisted those running the show should have played the game in the first place. “Who runs cricket? People who run cricket and run government have no clue at all when it comes to forward planning. How can they plan for cricket if they can’t run the country properly. There is no point in giving suggestions because they will not implement that,” said Ranatunga who led Sri Lanka to its solitary World Cup triumph in 1996. A classic example, he pointed out, was the captaincy crisis created after last year’s World Cup when both captain Kumar Sangakkara and his deputy Mahela Jayawardena resigned. “Not a single guy wanted to take it. Then they gave it to (Tillekeratne) Dilshan. The poor guy didn’t do a bad job. Ultimately when he started winning, he was suddenly thrown out and Mahela brought in. No doubt Mahela is one of the better captains. But why should we have a guy who is captaining for one year and then chuck up and give to another guy who will have only may be two years for next World Cup. Can he build a side. So where are we heading. Do we have a proper plan,” he asked. Ranatunga felt ideally they should have appointed someone who could build a team for the 2015 World Cup. “If they wanted to get rid of Dilshan they should have appointed a younger guy to take over and go till the next World Cup. I’m sure they just want to plaster for their wounds,” he said. Asked who he thought should be captain, he suggested wicketkeeper batsman Prasanna Jayawardena for Tests and opener Upul Tharanga for one-dayers. “In Test cricket Prasanna Jayawardena has a permanent place in the side. One-dayers I feel someone like Upul Tharanga. He has been a consistent player for last so many years. I have no problems with (Angelo) Mathews but the issue is that every time he plays he gets injured,” he said of the current vice-captain of the national team. He shot down speculation that he wanted to become the Minister of Sports. “There were lot of messages but my view is if I’m taking over I want to run the way I want. I was in the government. I should have been a minister by now. Issue is everyone knows entire government is corrupt. So I don’t want to be part of that. When I was playing cricket I always had a very clean hand. I don’t want to spoil it when I’m doing politics,” he said. “It’s better to be in opposition and I only hope that General (Sarath) Fonseka will be released. He is the only option we have in the country,” he said of the jailed opposition presidential candidate. Nevertheless he seemed genuinely saddened at the decline in standards and values. “There is no discipline. What they should realise is we are talking about a country which produces good sports people. Generally in cricket when you go outstation, you can find a very talented guy who comes from nowhere. That’s how we survive otherwise cricket would have been dead by now,” he said. He feels the day is not far away when Sri Lanka would lose to one of the minnows in the world. “I told we will lose to Bangladesh which we did in the Asia Cup. It won’t be long before we lose to a side like Ireland or Scotland. I won’t be surprised,” he said.