A tribute to a warrior

Thursday 20th July 2000 was a historic day for Sri Lankan cricket. It was a day that marked the beginning of an end to an era. Arjuna Ranatunga, possibly the greatest cricketing son of Sri Lanka, had just announced his retirement. What a sad way to commence the first Test match between Sri Lanka and South Africa at Galle.

When Ranatunga shared his decision with me, as we took a stroll down to the pitch before the beginning of play, I felt a great sense of sadness gripping me. It could have been due to the great affection I had for Arjuna the person, but I have very little doubt that it had a very strong cricketing reason too.

At 37 years old, the man they called so many names in Australia, a man many cricketers loved to hate, but above all the man chiefly responsible for putting Sri Lankan cricket on the world map, had had enough.

I know that Arjuna was saddened by his treatment after the 1999 World Cup in England. The very people who previously had been singing his praises were now calling for his head. He was dropped and never returned to the Sri Lankan one-day side, a team which he had proudly and victoriously captained.

But it also convinces me that Arjuna was quick to understand that in the midst of all this, the game of cricket was bigger than all individuals and teams put together. It could be the most fickle and unpredictable thing and also an absolute leveler.

The beginning to Ranatunga's cricket career was a fairy tale, as he burst onto the Sri Lankan cricket scene as an Under-15 cricketer, with a triple century and a ten wicket haul in a schools game for Ananda College. It was a performance that, in those pre-Test days, made the whole of Sri Lanka sit up and take note

Came 1982 and Arjuna would have never expected to be in the first Test side of his country but as luck would have it he was very much a part of it. Talking to the Sri Lankan captain of that inaugural Test, Bandula Warnapura, it was clear that Ranatunga was an automatic selection, a fact that speaks volumes for the 18-year-old's ability.

Since that famous match, a game in which Ranatunga had the honour of recording his country's first Test half century, he has recorded many firsts for his country but even his detractors will grudgingly concede that the World Cup triumph in 1996, was, and will always be, his crowning glory.

Rantunga's contribution to Sri Lankan cricket was not limited to his personal exploits with bat and ball. His most significant achievement was the sea change he induced in the mindsets of the nation's cricketers. The self belief he fostered amongst the team, is and will remain, the key factor in the turn around Sri Lankan cricketing fortunes. He instilled a fighting spirit at a time when the Sri Lankans were the losing gentlemen in the cricketing world.

Standing up to the might of Australia in their own backyard, taking them on at what the Aussies new best and even defeating them, made Ranatunga a man both the Aussie cricketers and public, loved to hate. The crushing victory over Australia in the World Cup final in Lahore, after being tormented on the 1995/96 tour down under, was just what the doctor ordered for Sri Lankan cricket and marked the beginning of a new era.

Since then there have been victories against all the major cricketing countries, success, which at the time led to Ranatunga being hailed as the shrewdest Test captain in the world. Few could argue with that honour. To watch him on the field was to see a man in control, a man with a strategy and an intuitive cricketing brain.

Very few people knew Arjuna Ranatunga the human being. A man with a very compassionate heart, who always felt for the poor and the under privileged. Always the type who fought for a cause and a person who set himself to conquer any mountain, once he was convinced of its value.

His assistance and commitment to young cricketers from outstation areas, his fight for their rights and eagerness for their inclusion will always be remembered. He was a freedom fighter to his fellow cricketers, a born leader to his team-mates and a feared critic of unjust administrators. He did for Sri Lanka what Imran Khan did for Pakistan.

However no tribute would ever be complete without touching on his gracious act on his last tour to Australia. That was the time when Ross Emerson tried to make a name for himself by no-balling Mutiah Muralitharan. Ranathunga risked his entire cricketing career by standing up for his young spin bowler and country.

Men like Arjuna Ranatunga come rarely, and his decision to retire is bound to cause much sadness around the cricketing world. However his contribution to Sri Lankan cricket will be fondly remembered for generations to come and his legacy of success looks set to continue.