Arjuna Ranatunga slams Sri Lanka’s Sports Minister, Namal Rajapaksa and Sri Lankan cricket team for signing a tour against India B team.
Sri Lanka’s World Cup winning-skipper, Arjuna Ranatunga on Friday criticized the Sri Lankan Sports Minister for agreeing on a tour against a B grade Indian team.
The 57-year-old said that the tour against the Indian B side is against the dignity of the country and it did not happen during his times.
Indian cricket team, under the captaincy of Shikhar Dhawan, arrived in Sri Lanka to prepare for the three-match T20I and ODI series, starting July 13.
First choice players like; Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, and Rishabh Pant are absent in the tour as they are preparing for the Test series against England next month.
“The Indian squad that came to Sri Lanka is not their best, it is a second-level team,”
Ranatunga said.
“Didn’t our sports minister or cricket administrators know this.”
“Sri Lanka may have gone down (in the rankings), but as a cricketing nation we have an identity, we have dignity, we should not be sending our best to play an Indian B team.”
Ranatunga, who led Sri Lanka to a World Cup victory in 1996, clearly declined the decision of the administration and raised the matter to upper management to improve the playing standards and skills.
The 57 years further said that the authorities had not considered the humiliation that the Sri Lankan team would face. According to him, the cricket leaders have only preferred financial gains.
“The secret behind agreeing to an Indian B team is TV rights,”
Ranatunga said.
“The board wants to make money from this tournament even if it means pitching our players against a B team.”
He said that the lack of discipline showed by some Sri Lankan players was also a result of poor management.
Vice-captain Kusal Mendis, opener Danushka Gunathilaka, and wicketkeeper Niroshan Dickwella were sent back home from England after they broke the rules and breach the bio-secure bubble.
Three of them are expected to be excluded from the series against India too.