London, December 17: In scathing criticism of Lalit Modi, former Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga has blamed the IPL Commissioner personally for India’s disappointing World Twenty20 campaign, earlier this year.
”India lost the Twenty20 World Cup thanks to Lalit Modi. No one else. Lalit Modi and his IPL. When I was playing, there were players who always wanted to achieve something for their country- we used to play for our clubs for no money. It was an honour to play for our country. Not like nowadays,” said Ranatunga, in a speech to the Oxford Union (part of the world-famous Oxford University), reported in the January issue of The Wisden Cricketer magazine.
The former left hander has further warned of lot of people taking part in this cash-awash T20 league, which will definitely going to spoil the sportsman spirit.
”A lot of unwanted people have started getting involved. They will come in with Twenty20, they will burn money with Twenty20, then they will vanish,” he felt.
Ranatunga was dismissive of the suggestion that Twenty20 leagues gave opportunities to young players. ”Only limited top players benefit and that is just financially. You need a balance between bat and ball for good cricket; Twenty20 will kill that for financial considerations,” the 46-year-old said.
The former Sri Lanka captain, who has amassed altogether 12,561 runs from his 93-Test and 269-ODI career, also asserted that he would be in favour of Sri Lankan team returning to play in Pakistan, provided that they have been provided the correct security there.
”Provided we had proper security, as we had when we played the Asia Cup there, I’d lead a team to Pakistan. Sri Lanka had these problems for 30 years (in the Sri Lankan civil war). If you’re going to stop playing because of terrorism, you’re going to end up with a shamed country,” he added.
–Agencies