BCCI’s favourite nemesis, Arjuna Ranatunga, has slammed the Indian cricket board for sacrificing national interest and giving more preference to a domestic tournament like the Indian Premier League. This, he said, had hurt the team’s chances in the tournament and they made an unexpected exit before getting to the knock-out stage of the tournament.
He went on to add that he sympathised with the Indian players who would have tried their best during the tournament, but without support from their body and mind, it would have become difficult for them. He also agreed that money was an important consideration for the game of cricket, but killing the sport for the sake of the same was not done.
Criticizing many of the cricket boards for having non-cricketers calling the shots, he said that it would be interesting to note how many cricketers agreed to play in T20 if money was not a motive.
When asked to comment on Kumar Sangakkara’s captaincy, he said it was too early to do that given that T20 is not about skills, it was all about luck.
“You need luck, not brains, to captain in T20. Indeed, you don’t have to be a thinker and it’s not necessary to be creative. Where I’m concerned, T20 isn’t proper cricket. If T20 becomes the yardstick for judging players, then Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar won’t be India’s greatest in the past three decades. That honour would probably go to Yuvraj Singh and Yusuf Pathan,” he said.
Ranatunga had been involved in many a skirmishes as the cricket administrator of Sri Lanka and the final straw was when he arranged for a Sri Lankan tour to England while the players wanted to feature in the Indian Premier League instead.