5 Players who were backed to the core by their captain
When a player enters a lean patch, the captain’s role increases manifold. It is time for him to pull from the front, push from behind, and say “I’ve got your back!”
5. Arjuna Ranatunga- Marvan Atapattu
In 1988, a 24-year-old Ranatunga took the captaincy of Sri Lanka to become the then youngest captain in ODIs. It was under Ranatunga’s stint that Sri Lanka scaled its biggest cricketing triumph by winning the 1996 ICC World Cup.
Come to back the players, Ranatunga was the one who would back his men to the hilt. 0 and 0, 0 and 1, 0 and 0, can a batsman start his Test career any worse? After a start as disastrous as that, a player not getting a chance to wear whites for his country again should be no wonder. Atapattu hit rock-bottom and his game could have been over, had it not been for Ranatunga’s support for him.
After a vulnerable start and a flurry of low scores, Atapattu came back with a bang as he scored 108 against India in 1997. Over time, he stamped himself as a valuable player not just in Tests, but in the shorter format of the game as well.
Atapattu played 21 Tests and 70 ODIs under Ranatunga and aggregated 1011 and 2136 runs respectively.
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