Ranatunga hits out at Hayden's remarks

Arjuna Ranatunga, the former Sri Lankan captain, has responded to Matthew Hayden's remark of subcontinental batsmen targeting personal landmarks. Ranatunaga said that Australian cricketers were not willing to "absorb" the success of Asian teams and even cited Hayden's record-breaking innings, when he scored 380 against Zimbabwe, as an example of targeting personal milestones.

"The best question you can ask him [Hayden] is why he batted till he got past the world record. They should have declared much before that," Ranatunga was quoted as saying in a report by the Press Trust of India.

"I feel when subcontinent cricketers are doing well, they [Australians] cannot absorb it. And it has been the pattern for so many years. The bottom line is that the subcontinental cricketers are very gifted and talented. It is the way they use their wrists and I think they are more natural sportsmen."

Ranatunga also added that he wasn't surprised with Hayden's comments and said, "I am quite used to it. The best thing is to perform with the bat and ball." He touched upon the Australian tactic of mental disintegration when he said, "Normally they start with the top players and they try to put the mind into a different line."

There was also a mention of the current Indian side and Ranatunga likened them to his victorious team that won the World Cup in 1996. "I have always felt that it [the Indian team] was more like the side we had in 1996 with seven batsmen and four bowlers. Only thing is that they have to work little more on their fielding and fitness. If they do that, I am sure they will have a pretty good chance of winning the next World Cup."