Arjuna Ranatunga

Arjuna Ranatunga (born 1 December 1963) is a Sri Lankan cricketer-turned politician.

Ranatunga comes from Gampaha, a town twenty miles north of Colombo. He, along with his brothers, studied at Ananda College Colombo where his mother was a teacher. Arjuna’s cricketing career started and was carefully nurtured at school. He played cricket for both the junior and senior teams and captained Ananda team for two years.

A left-handed batsman and useful right arm medium pace bowler, he made his first-class debut in 1981 at the age of eighteen and a year later played in Sri Lanka’s inaugural Test match. He went on to score Sri Lanka’s first half century in this game.

Ranatunga went on to captain Sri Lanka in 1988, taking control of the national team for the next eleven years through one of its most successful periods. He was widely recognised as a master tactician and was famous for defending his players at all costs.

Ranatunga’s weight was also notable, and gave rise to an incident during a game played in humid conditions when he called for a runner, claiming that he had “sprained something”. Opposition (Australian) wicket-keeper Ian Healy responded that he could not get a runner for being “an overweight twat”, a comment picked up by the stump microphones and broadcast on television.

The Sri Lankan national team were considered perpetual underdogs but this image changed completely during the 1996 Cricket World Cup, when Sri Lanka defeated tournament favourites Australia to win it under the captaincy of Ranatunga. This victory, for which Ranatunga was a pivotal part both as batsman and captain, has ensured that Sri Lanka are no longer underestimated on the world cricket stage.

Ranatunga lost the national team captaincy in 1999 after Sri Lanka’s poor showing at the World Cup in England, although he was chosen as one of five Wisden Cricketers of the Year for that year. He retired from playing cricket in 2001.

He is currently the Deputy Minister of Tourism for Sri Lanka.

Teams

International
Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan first-class
Sinhalese Sports Club

Career highlights

Tests

Test Debut: vs England, Colombo, 1981-1982
Last Test: vs South Africa, Colombo, 2000-2001

Ranatunga’s highest Test batting score of 135 not out was made against Pakistan, Colombo, 1985-1986
His best Test bowling effort of 2 for 17 came against New Zealand, Kandy, 1983-1984
Ranatunga’s captaincy record was as follows: 56 matches, 12 wins, 19 losses, 25 draws.
One-day internationals

ODI Debut: vs England, Colombo, 1981-1982
Last ODI: vs Kenya, Southampton, 1999 World Cup
His highest ODI batting score of 131 not out was made against India, Colombo, 1997
Ranatunga’s best bowling figures of 4 for 14 came against India at Kanpur in 1986-1987
His captaincy record was as follows: 193 matches, 89 wins, 95 losses, 1 tie, 8 no result