An integral part of Lankan cricket

HISTORY NEVER quite looks like history when you are living through it. Like in Colombo last week where Sri Lanka was playing in its Centenary Test, it took one sometime to realise that people are an integral part of history as much as history is of people.

For, at the Sinhalese Sports Club ground on that day, Arjuna Ranatunga became the first player in Test history to have played in a country's first and 100th Test matches. Ranatunga played in the inaugural Test, against England, as an 18-year-old schoolboy in 1982 and there he was 18 years later, in his 88th Test when he should have played more.

It is not a question of the first or the 100th Test, for that is a feat which would have been achieved in the old days had not the first World War intervened and the matches been few.But the greatness of this man is in the extraordinary transformation he effected on Sri Lankan cricket.Looking back at his career that ran parallel to the country's chequered history in international cricket, one realised what an integral part of it he was. The country's finest captain and a great batsman in his own right, Ranatunga indeed took Sri Lankan cricket from promise to toughened maturity.

``The leader must know, must know that he knows, and must be able to make it abundantly clear to those about him that he knows,'' wrote Clarence B. Randall in his book, Making Good in Management. If captaincy is about man-management, then Ranatunga excelled in it after he took over the mantle in 1989.

That the Sri Lankans are talented cricketers was never in doubt. Evident as it was since the famous chase against Australia in the inaugural World Cup of 1975 when Lillee and Thommo had to resort to short-pitched bowling to keep the Lankans quiet.In fact, the older generation say that men like Mahadeva Sathasivam and later on Anura Tennekoon were far more talented, but unlucky not to have played official Test cricket.

But in Ranatunga, Sri Lanka found a captain who commanded wisely and was obeyed, a man who assumed responsibility. In fact, he would be among the very few who would pass Walter Lippmann's final test of a leader: that he leaves behind him in other men the conviction and the will to carry on.Sri Lanka scored its first series wins abroad, against New Zealand and later Pakistan, under Ranatunga's captaincy in 1995.

But the critics went on to claim that Pakistan was not with its full pace attack. Indeed. But the Lankans scored an away series win against Pakistan this year too. Ranatunga might not have been at the helm this time (Jayasuriya was elevated as captain after the '99 World Cup debacle), but at the Pindi ground, it was Arjuna (29 not out) who braved a broken thumb to guide Lanka to a two-wicket victory in the company of Kaluwitharana.

The 1996 World Cup triumph was by far Sri Lanka's and Ranatunga's greatest moment. Not to forget he led Lanka to Test victory over England at the Sinhalese Sports Club ground in 1993 and the one- off Test at Lord's (Murali's 16 for 220, Jayasuriya's 213 not out, De Silva's 152), both victories he holds close to his heart.

It was he who decided to turn orthodoxy on its head, a move he conceived in Australia before the World Cup, to open with Jayasuriya and Kaluwitharana with instructions to attack from the start.

The Lankans played some breathtaking cricket, overwhelming Australia in the final. There he was, the `Smiling Buddha', guiding the side past the Aussies total in the company of Aravinda de Silva, who was in brilliant form.

Being a top one-day nation apart, Ranatunga's goal was to make Sri Lanka one of the best Test-playing nations, a project that he termed Vision-2000.

But as Ranatunga, who was the first Sri Lankan to go past the 4000-run mark in limited overs internationals, said in 1998, ``It will take us longer to realise the goal. We don't have the likes of Wasim and Waqar, Donald and Pollock. But we have Vaas and Murali, with whom we are winning matches. It will take us longer yes, but we'll work towards it.''

As a batsman, Ranatunga was all angles and placements. Capable of annihilating an attack, he came in at No. 4 or 5, which is the trouble- shooters slot in limited-overs cricket.

It was either crisis period or time to pick up the momentum and Ranatunga, along with De Silva, were by far Lanka's best men in a tight situation. In one-day cricket, where he has played over 250 matches, Ranatunga has an average of 35.84 with four centuries and 49 half centuries.

In Test cricket, where he came in at No. 4 for most part, Ranatunga, with over 4000 runs, four centuries and 34 half centuries, was the guiding force.But it will be as a leader that he will be remembered the most. As a man who stood by his men, fighting politicians, administrators and opposition.

He stood by Muralitharan when the off-spinner was `ambushed' in Australia, no-balled for throwing by umpire Ross Emerson. He met the Aussies at their own terms (Remember the spat he had with Shane Warne?).

Some years ago, the Sri Lankan Board decided to put its senior cricketers on a fitness test, the emphasis being on athleticism.

Ranatunga managed to satisfy the examiners while De Silva failed the test and was subsequently axed. Ranatunga pulled out as a sign of protest for the injustice done by the selectors to De Silva. Such was his commitment to his teammate and friend, an act of selflessness.

Ranatunga possesses deep knowledge of the game, can spot talent and understand situations. He backed Marvan Attapattu through and through even after the latter had a disastrous start in international cricket, saying Attapattu had class and would come good one day. Ranatunga was right.

Show me a hero and I will write you a tragedy, wrote F. Scott Fitzgerald long ago. Ranatunga has seen it all. He has been hailed in his country while the same people have called for his head. But Ranatunga will remain one of the greatest cricketers to have emerged from the Island.

SANJAY RAJAN

Chennai

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Sport
Previous : Need to introduce professionalism at every level
Next     : A role model for our cricketers