Deshamanya Arjuna Ranatunga; born on 1 December 1963 is a former Sri Lankan international cricketer and a politician. He captained the Sri Lankan cricket team in the 1990s, and lead them to Cricket World Cup victory in 1996. A specialist left-handed batsman and a medium pace bowler, Ranatunga’s career with the Sri Lankan national team began in 1982, when Sri Lanka was a relative newcomer in international cricket.
Under his captaincy, Sri Lanka started to improve rapidly. The team’s growing success rate, culminated with a dominating performance made it triumph in the 1996 Cricket World Cup. Ranatunga was the man who took a near bankrupt team to become the World Cup winner when the world least expected it.
EARLY LIFE
Ranatunga comes from Minuwangoda, a town twenty miles north of Colombo. His father Reggie Ranatunga, was a politician. He, along with his brothers, studied at Ananda College Colombo where his mother was a teacher and where he started playing cricket. He represented his school in both junior and senior teams.
CRICKET CAREER
A left-handed batsman and right arm medium pace bowler, Ranatunga made his first-class debut in 1981 at the age of eighteen and a year later played in Sri Lanka’s inaugural Test match. In this match he became the first Sri Lankan to score a Test half century.
Ranatunga went on to captain Sri Lanka in 1988, taking control of the national team for the next 11 years, transforming it from a weak, routinely defeated team into a competitive and successful unit. He led the team to their greatest cricketing triumph- the 1996 World Cup. His innovative captaincy took the Sri Lankan team, which initially had little chance of winning prior to the competition, for cricket’s greatest prize.
1996 WORLD CUP
The Sri Lankan cricket players were considered perpetual underdogs but this image changed completely during the 1996 Cricket World Cup, when Sri Lanka defeated tournament favorites, Australia under the captaincy of Ranatunga. This victory, for which Ranatunga was a pivotal part both as batsman and captain, started a new era of Sri Lankan competitiveness on the global stage; even though they had previously never passed the group stage of a world cup.
CONTROVERSIES
Ranatunga is also remembered for his stand in a One Day International against England. He exchanged heated words with umpire Ross Emerson and led his team to a point just inside the boundary line, halting the match and giving the impression that he was about to forfeit the match, until the Sri Lankan management conferred with him and the match resumed. English captain, Alec Stewart, was openly critical of Ranatunga’s behavior. In a comment caught on the stump microphone he was heard to say to Ranatunga “Your conduct today has been appalling for a country’s captain”.
The match was bad-tempered, with instances of shoulder-bumping. He is also noted for his repeated intense criticism of the Australian team, especially his long-standing rivalry with Shane Warne. During the 1996 World Cup, Ranatunga claimed that Warne was overrated, and during the final, Warne mis executed a flipper, which turned into a full toss. Ranatunga pulled it over the boundary for the six and then stuck his tongue out at Warne. During the 1999 World Cup, Warne wrote a column calling Ranatunga a “disgrace”. The Sri Lankan shot back by referring to his country’s cultural heritage and then mocking Australia over convict settlement.
POLITICAL CAREER
Ranatunga retired from cricket in 2001 and became a television commentator. He entered into politics by joining the Sri Lanka Freedom Party led by Chandrika Kumaratunga, and contested the 2001 parliamentary elections. After the UPFA victory in 2004, he was appointed Deputy Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment Promotion. In 2010, Ranatunga left the UPFA and joined the Democratic Party of the DNA led by Sarath Fonseka, and was made the deputy leader of the Democratic Party.
On November 2012, he resigned from the Democratic Party, but continued his affiliation with DNA. He endorsed Maithripala Sirisena in the 2015 Presidential election, and after Sirisena’s victory Ranatunga was appointed Minister of Highways, Ports & Shipping.