17 Facts on Arjuna Ranatunga - The Revolutionary Sri Lankan Skipper

Arjuna Ranatunga can be called as the pioneer of Sri Lankan cricket. He is mainly responsible for bringing the best of cricket from this island nation and he got the team the respect that they enjoy now. His batting style and part time bowling earned him laurels and was also nominated for the Wisden Cricketer of the year. He has represented his country in 93 Tests and 269 ODIs.

It was not just his batting and bowling skills, but his leadership and man management that saw the Sri Lankan team get to the highest point in their cricket winning the World Cup 1996.

1. Birth:

Arjuna Ranatunga was born on December 1, 1963, in a small town called Gampaha, twenty miles south-west of Colombo. He was the son of Ranatunga Sr. a well-known politician of the Sri Lankan Freedom Party.

2. Cricketing family:

All the his brothers, Dammika, Nishantha and Sanjeeva have played international cricket for Sri Lanka. Arjuna Ranatunga’s son also represented Tamil Union in few unofficial matches in 2010.

3. His association with Ananda:

He, along with his brothers, studied at Ananda College Colombo where his mother was a teacher. Arjuna started his cricketing career in the school whose alma-mater consists of cricketing greats like Sidath Wettimuny, Thilan Samaraweera, Dinesh Chandimal and Tilina Kandamby.

4. His Under-20 heroics:

Ranatunga represented Sri Lankan U-20 squad against an Indian U-20 consisting of cricketers like Ravi Shastri and Laxman Sivaramakrishnan. He scored a blistering knock of 128* in his first game.

5. First Sri Lankan to score a half century:

In 1982, Arjuna Ranatunga played for Sri Lanka against England in its first ever Test and became the first Sri Lankan to cross the 50-run mark when he scored 54 runs in a losing cause in the one-off Test match.

6. Youngest captain for Sri Lanka:

At 24 years and 333 days, Ranatunga became the then youngest man to captain Sri Lanka in an ODI. This record was broken by Dinesh Chandimal who captained Sri Lanka at the young age of 23. At the age of 26, Arjuna Ranatunga was also captaining the Sri Lankan Test side.

7. Captaincy ideas:

Arjuna Ranatunga was the brain behind the strategy of dominating the first fifteen overs or the ‘powerplays’ when fielding restrictions are imposed on the bowling side. This strategy brought out the best in the likes of Sanath Jayasuriya who was known to destroy any kind of bowling in the opposition. This strategy emerged as the master stroke and is still used by batsmen across the world. He was also a captain who respected and defended his players at all costs.

8. 1992 World Cup run chase:

Sri Lanka became the first team to chase a score above 300 when they chased 313 against Zimbabwe in the 1992 World Cup. Arjuna Ranatunga scored a valuable 88 runs being unbeaten to ensure a victory.

9. 1996 World Cup:

The 1996 World Cup was a turning point for the island nation. This win in the World Cup changed the perception of the world on how they play cricket and how they are to be played. This victory had a lot to do with the way Ranatunga led the team and the pivotal part he played as a batsman. He scored 241 runs in the tournament ending with the highest average in the World Cup. They defeated Australia in the finals and this was the beginning of a new era for Sri Lanka in cricket.

10. First cricketer to play the team’s 1st and 100th Test match:

In June 2000, Arjuna Ranatunga became the first cricketer to play in their country’s first and hundredth Test match. Interestingly he had played only 93 Test matches for Sri Lanka.

11. His ‘running’ controversies:

Arjuna Ranatunga’s weight was considered excessive for an athlete due to which he couldn’t run between the wickets for long times. In a humid match against the Australians, Arjuna Ranatunga apparently had sprained his ankle and called for a runner. The then wicketkeeper Ian Healy commented on it and it led to sledging and misunderstandings between both the teams during the match.

12. Defending Muttiah Muralitharan:

In an ODI against England, an umpire in the match, Ross Emerson called Muralitharan for throwing. (He was later cleared from ICC after Tests). In this match, Arjuna had a heated exchange with the umpire with this fact and the argument went till the match was about to be forfeited. The English captain Alec Stewart said to Ranatunga, “Your conduct today has been appalling for a country’s captain”.

13. Arguments with Shane Warne:

In the World Cup 1996, Ranatunga had claimed that Warne was overrated and in the final hit a six of a Shane Warne’s mis-executed flipper. After he hit him for a six, he stuck his tongue out at Warne and Warne called him a disgrace. “You can’t be mates with everyone, and if there was any way I could knock him down to number 101 for the purposes of this book, I’d be delighted to do so. But having taken on the task, I want to do it seriously, and the fact is that Ranatunga helped to put Sri Lanka on the cricket map. And you know what? Deep down, I’ll quietly admit that I rated him as a cricketer,” Warne wrote in his 2008 book Shane Warne’s Century.

14. Captaincy record:

Until October 2006, Arjuna Ranatunga held the record for captaining in the most number of ODIs (193) till it was broken by Stephen Fleming in the Champions Trophy of 2006. Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting now holds the record.

Also Read – Top 10 Most successful captains in international Cricket

15. Retirement:

The 100th Test of Sri Lanka in June 2000 was his last Test. He lost the team captaincy after Sri Lanka’s abysmal group exit in the 1999 World Cup. He officially retired from international cricket in 2001.

16. Cricket board:

Arjuna Ranatunga served as the president of Sri Lankan Cricket until December 2008.

17. Political career:

He won the election to the Parliament for the United National Party (UNP) from Gampaha in the General Elections 2015. He’s presently the Minister for Ports and Shipping.