Asia Cup 2018: I Have Stopped Watching Cricket - Arjuna Ranatunga
Published - 26 Sep 2018, 07:08 PM | Updated - 22 Aug 2024, 11:55 PM
Of late, Sri Lanka is going through all kinds of sorts in the game of cricket. The last couple of years have been terrible for the team with then still trying to figure out the best players for the nation. Meanwhile, Arjuna Ranatunga is utterly disappointed with the team management and the recruitments.
The former Sri Lankan skipper quoted he is frustrated with the regular changes in the team management and the players. Further, Ranatunga added the selectors need to back the players to yield the results.
We need to find the good bunch of people – Arjun Ranatunga
The World-cup winning skipper for Islanders quoted the board is hiring the foreign coaches instead of trying their coaches. Arjuna Ranatunga termed the best coaches of Sri Lanka are helping the overseas teams while Sri Lanka is hiring the foreigners.
He feels there is some loophole in the management which need to get addressed as quickly as possible. The classy batsman also stressed to back the players despite going through the wrong phase.
“It is the Sri Lankan coaches who went to Bangladesh and helped develop their grassroots cricket. Several of our coaches were working with Bangladesh’s age group teams and in the last 10 years, they have made good progress. What we Sri Lankans did was hire foreign coaches to develop our cricket. Something went wrong somewhere,” Ranatunga, one-time president of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) said.
However, Arjuna Ranatunga is excited about Lahiru Thirimanne but selectors never really gave him a chance. He feels the talent needs the opportunity to shine.
“We have many good coaches but their services are not recognised and as a result, they move overseas. I am also disappointed by the constant chopping and changing they have done in recent times. I was very impressed with Lahiru Thirimanne when I first saw him. He was making good progress but went through a bad patch. When you have identified a talent, you need to back that player without discarding him. That is what Imran Khan did and that is what I did,” he added.
However, it would be interesting to see whether the Sri Lankan board considers the suggestion made by Arjun Ranatunga. The Asia Cup 2018 defeat is the big wake-up call for Sri Lanka to build for 2019 World Cup.
