Political interference is the reason behind the decline in Sri Lankan cricket, says Arjuna Ranatunga – Cricket News Update
Former Sri Lankan captain, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Arjuna-Ranatunga-c45447, has blasted the politicians of his country for damaging the game and feels that Sri Lankan cricket is facing such lows only because of political interference in the game.
Ranatunga is one of the most respected sporting figures in Sri Lanka as the Islanders won the World Cup under his captaincy in 1996.
After winning the World Cup in the sub-continent, Sri Lanka emerged as a new cricketing power and became a threat for all the major teams. The small country produced a number of high-class cricketers who were match-winners in their own rights.
However, since the last one year, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Chaminda-Vaas-c1223 has played
an immense role in the downfall of Sri Lankan cricket. Whereas, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/SL-Malinga-c2540 has also restricted himself to limited-overs cricket only.
However, the former Sri Lankan captain and left-handed middle-order batsman is of the opinion that politicians use Sri Lankan cricketers for their advantage and this is the root-cause behind the evils of cricket on the Island.
Ranatunga said, "The main factor is that politics has got involved with cricket. Starting from the president of the country, the interference into cricket is unbelievable. In my time cricketers were not used by the politicians for their success."
The former cricketer, who has also led the Sri Lankan Cricket Board (SLCB) in the past, slammed the President of the country as well for using sportsmen in his election campaign. The World Cup winning captain revealed that the situation is getting worse
as the political interference is increasing with the passage of time.
"It happened when President Mahinda Rajapaksa contested for the second time and he got most of the cricketers to go on advertisements for his success. Now the president and ministers are interfering with cricket with the sports minister putting a finger
in everything. This is one of the factors for our cricket disaster," he added.
Sri Lanka is a small country with lots of potential for cricket but if they want to remain a force to reckoned with, the Islanders must separate sports from politics.
Tags: