Sri Lanka Cricket board is corrupt and mismanaged, says Arjuna Ranatunga

1996 World Cup-winning Sri Lanka captain Arjuna Ranatunga slammed Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) for showing unprofessionalism in their operation of the sport in the country. His comments came after the island nation have seen a major turmoil in its functioning over the last few years, especially after its veteran stars Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Sanath Jayasuriya and Lasith Malinga, called time on their playing cricket.

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Sri Lanka Cricket board: What is the turmoil about?

The centrally contracted cricketers under the Sri Lanka Cricket board landed in a huge pay dispute last year. It led to a number of players coming under the scanner and being subsequently banned by the board for various reasons. Ranatunga, who played a crucial role in the development of cricket in Sri Lanka has taken the matter into account personally and spoken about the mismanagement around it. 

“It is all about mismanagement, unprofessional, that is where the crisis has occurred in cricket. The worst subject is the cricket board, they are the most corrupt institution in the country. They have messed up everything; they do not have proper professionals who run cricket. It is worse than the government. Cricket wise we have produced players, but they are managed badly. It is a big issue… If you go to a cricket election, you are looking at 143 or 144 votes, it is all about bribing,” Ranatunga was quoted as saying.

Sri Lanka cricket board in mess since 2015

Ranatunga suggested that the board has been in complete mess since 2015 due to the administrators running the show. He highlighted that even the sports ministers couldn’t change the situation.  “The people who are running cricket since 2015 have messed up. I always felt that a proper sports minister would come in and they would handle this properly, but the only thing is thieves go and capture the post. It has happened in the past and will happen in the future,” Ranatunga added.

Sri Lanka have not been at their best in recent times. They were whitewashed in the Twenty20 International (T20I) and Test series recently during their tour of India and before that the island nation lost a T20 series against Aaron Finch’s Australia. However, at present, a few of their players including the likes of Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dushmantha Chameera and Maheesh Theekshana are currently taking part in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022.