ARJUNA Ranatunga led Sri Lanka to their first and only World Cup triumph in 1996. After his illustrious cricketing career, the southpaw also tried his luck in politics and excelled at it. Lately, the legendary skipper has lashed out at Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) and has also labelled it the most “corrupt” institution in the island nation.

Sri Lanka is currently battling its worst-ever financial crisis, which has affected the day-to-day lives of the people of the country, with the rate of inflation having skyrocketed. Meanwhile, Arjuna has criticised SLC for ruining the chances of young talented cricketers due to mismanagement.

“Nobody asked me to step down the order, especially after having won a World Cup as captain, but that’s what a good leader does,” 58-year-old Ranatunga was quoted as saying, by Sportstar.
“When you play cricket, you think of tomorrow, not today. Now, everyone is after his own personal glory and our cricket board is the most corrupt institution in the country. They have messed up everything. We produce several young talented cricketers, but they are managed very badly,” the former World Cup-winning skipper said in Bengaluru, where he was on a visit to the Karnataka Olympic Bhavan in the company of President K. Govindraj.

Ever since the 2015 World Cup, Sri Lanka have been in the transition period and have failed to find a proper balance in their squad, as a result of which they have been unable to perform in multi-nation tournaments.

The Lankans, who won the T20 World Cup in 2014 under Lasith Malinga, have even failed to make the cut in the Super 12 stages of the 2021 event. Even this year, the former champions will have to do well in the group stages in order to qualify for the next round, just like they did in the previous edition in the UAE. (CricTracker)