Arjuna Ranatunga Clarifies The Fixing Allegations Of World Cup 2011
Aug 8, 2017 at 8:06 PM
Former Sri Lankan World Cup winning skipper Arjuna Ranatunga, in an hour-long discussion with Indian journalists in Colombo, has cleared the air by stating his quotes were misrepresented while adding he never raised the concern of a match-fixing, but some issues took place which needed to be redressed.
“When it comes to the 2011 World Cup final, I never said I was concerned about match-fixing. I said there were issues, address the issues,” Ranatunga was quoted as saying by Scroll.
The former Colombo-born left-handed batsman Ranatunga further reiterated that he has never suggested the 2011 50-over World Cup was fixed in any way, but the problems triggered during the time was also witnessed by entire Lanka adding he’s not taking anything away from India as a unit which dominated the then Kumar Sangakkara-led Lions.
“It is not my issues, the entire country saw it. I am not taking the credit away from India at all,” Ranatunga maintained.
Interestingly, the final was played at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai which was convincingly won by Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led India by six wickets, after chasing down the target of 275 in 48.2 overs.
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Apart from being a prolific batter, Rangatuna, who also bowled for Sri Lanka as a medium pacer, played a significant role for the national side, as he scored unbeaten 47 off 37 deliveries against Mark Taylor-led Australia in the World Cup final of 1996 at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.
During the presser, Ranatunga recollected his memories and stated before the start of the 2011 World Cup, India has the quality side, but his heart is always with the national team.
“I can remember when I was seated with all the captains before the tournament, I said my heart says Sri Lanka but India has the best side,” Ranatunga stated.
Following the loss of Sri Lanka in the final, Ranatunga also made a startling revelation in the recent past that he has stopped watching the cricket.
“To tell you honestly, I’ve stopped watching Sri Lankan cricket. I read the newspaper, but I hardly watch cricket,” Ranatunga added.
While thrusting on the approach of the side, Ranatunga admitted he has requested the world cricket governing body ICC to have a close look on the grand occasions of the game in itself pertaining to the certain issues which has had prevailed according to his observation.
“The way we approached that game and some of the things that happened in the final, I was not comfortable So I said, these are the things the ICC should get into. I never said match-fixing,” Ranatunga concluded.
Ranatunga had featured in 269 One-day Internationals and 93 Tests for Sri Lanka. He has scored 5,105 runs in longer format and 7456 runs in 50-over game. He has also bagged 79 wickets in ODIs and 16 in Test format.