Arjuna Ranatunga

Who is Arjuna Ranatunga?

Arjuna Ranatunga is a Sri Lankan politician, former international cricketer and cricket administrator. He served as the captain of the Sri Lankan cricket team for much of the 1990s, and the team won the 1996 Cricket World Cup under his leadership. He is the serving member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka from Kalutara District.

A specialist left-handed batsman and part-time medium pace bowler, Ranatunga's career with the Sri Lankan national team began in 1983, when Sri Lanka were relative newcomers to international cricket and did not perform well against the well-established teams. He became an important player in the middle order of Sri Lanka's batting. Under Ranatunga's captaincy, Sri Lanka began to play more aggressively in both ODI and Test cricket the mid-'90s. Their growing success rate culminated with a dominating performance and triumph in the 1996 Cricket World Cup. Although some of his actions caused some controversy, Ranatunga was praised for his leadership in raising a team long regarded as underdogs to the status of world champions.

Upon retirement from playing cricket, Ranatunga became influential in the administration of cricket in Sri Lanka and entered politics, joining the People's Alliance and winning election to the Sri Lankan parliament. He served a tenure as deputy minister for tourism, and later served as the president of Sri Lanka Cricket until December 2008. He joined the Democratic National Alliance in 2010.