Arjuna Ranatunga clears his stand on demanding a probe on 2011 World Cup final

Former Sri Lanka captain, Arjuna Ranatunga had shaken the cricketing world when he claimed that there was fixing in India-Sri Lanka World Cup final. The only Sri Lankan skipper to have got his hands on the silverware himself Ranatunga raised doubts on the game, given the way his team gave it all away and it appeared way too easy.

At that time, he didn’t divulge any details but promised to reveal the names in the upcoming days. But he demanded Sri Lanka Cricket initiated an inquiry into this matter. “I was also in India giving commentaries at the time. When we lost, I was distressed and I had a doubt,” Ranatunga had said in July. “We must investigate what happened to Sri Lanka at the 2011 World Cup final.”

Defends his claims

Ranatunga was asked about his views on the claims he had earlier made. He defended his allegations saying that he only asked for an investigation on the game and didn’t name any player.

“I never said ‘fixing’ about 2011 final. I said, ‘do an investigation’. There were a lot of concerns we all went through and that is the reason.” the former SLC president said as quoted by The Indian Express. “When I had to speak, I said ‘do an investigation on that particular game’. I never said A or B or C got involved in that. A lot of people had concerns,” he added.

Captain should run the show

The 53-year-old believes that the coach’s main job is to assist and support the captain, whose job is to run the show.

“No, the coach will be there to assist and support. But the captain runs the show. If you take a vehicle, the captain is the driver. The coach can be a different person but you take any coach — you take India now. Someone like Kohli, can a coach come and tell him how to bat?” the left-handed batsman argued.

He further added that coach’s main job is to find and rectify weaknesses in the game of the players.

“But if the coach can see a weakness or a defect, that’s when the coach needs to come and tell the player what he sees. Generally, the captain runs the show,” Ranatunga concluded.