Full Name

Arjuna Ranatunga

Born

December 01, 1963, Colombo

Age

60y 109d

Batting Style

Left hand Bat

Bowling Style

Right arm Medium

Playing Role

Batter

RELATIONS

(brother),

(brother),

(brother),

(son)

Stocky left-hand batter Arjuna Ranatunga led Sri Lanka to their greatest cricketing triumph, the 1996 World Cup win.

Ranatunga made his debut in Sri Lanka's inaugural Test at the age of 18, and made his country's first Test half-century. A dominant figure on cricket fields all over the world for nearly 20 years, he never shied away from confrontation, defending his players and their rights to the hilt - most famously Muthiah Muralidaran, the team's spin-bowling talisman, against allegations of chucking.

Despite his relative inability to scamper the quick single, Ranatunga had an uncanny ability to keep the scoreboard ticking over using deft placement on both sides of the wicket, combined with fluent driving through the off side in particular. He was a deceptive and useful medium-pace bowler, although his bowling was rarely seen in the later part of his career.

He lost the captaincy following Sri Lanka's poor showing in the 1999 World Cup, and retired from international cricket a year later, but his contribution to Sri Lankan cricket is immense. He moved into politics but In 2006 resigned from the post of junior minister for tourism to concentrate on his role in cricket administration. Ranatunga was appointed chairman of the cricket board in January 2008 but was sacked in December that year after he took several decisions that went against the grain, following which he returned to politics full-time, going on to serve as Sri Lanka's minister of ports, highways and shipping in the mid-2010s.

Arjuna Ranatunga Career Stats

Batting & Fielding

FormatMatInnsNORunsHSAveBFSR100s50s6sCtSt
Tests93155125105135*35.69--43840470
ODIs269255477456131*35.84957177.90449-630
FC2052953211641238*44.26--2563-1080
List A307290538491131*35.82--455-780

Bowling

FormatMatInnsBallsRunsWktsBBIBBMAveEconSR4w5w10w
Tests935623731040162/172/2065.002.62148.3000
ODIs26913547103757794/144/1447.554.7859.6100
FC205-70963085945/45-32.812.6075.4-20
List A307-53384255984/144/1443.414.7854.4200
Arjuna Ranatunga

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Test
ODI

Debut/Last Matches of Arjuna Ranatunga

Photos of Arjuna Ranatunga

Arjuna Ranatunga watches the 2023 World Cup match between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh at theSLC office
Muthiah Muralidaran, Arjuna Ranatunga and Aravinda de Silva in attendance on the opening day
Arjuna Ranatunga carries the World Cup trophy
Arjuna Ranatunga lost the election for the SLC vice-president's post
Richard Hadlee and Arjuna Ranatunga with the World Cup trophy
Chamika Karunaratne, the Sri Lanka U-19 captain, receives his cap from Arjuna Ranatunga