Published: Feb 03, 2015, 11:42 AM (IST)
Edited: Feb 03, 2015, 04:16 PM (IST)
These men provided Sri Lanka their greatest sporting moment ever when the island nation lifted the cricket World Cup for the very first time in 1996. The then captain Arjuna Ranatunga, along with Aravinda de Silva and Muttiah Muralitharan joined at the panel discussion with the 1996 World Cup Heroes – organized by the Sunday Times Business Club.
Known to speak his mind, Ranatunga spoke about corruption and match-fixing within cricket and blamed the games governing body, ICC, for its lack of guidance.
As reported by ThePapere.com, the former Sri Lankan skipper lashed out at ICC as he said, “There is no ICC anymore. It is just BCCI. It is not International Cricket Council it is International Crime Council. If you take all the cricket board Presidents am sure they are all puppets. ICC is the toothless tiger.”
He was extremely critical about the ICC Chairman N Srinivasan who has had a number of controversies to deal with.
Ranatunga, who is now an Union Minister, went on to say, “Just imagine the person whose son-in-law got caught with fixing is the head of ICC. What’s the logic behind that? Worst part is players are getting punished and threatened and when it comes to the Indian Cricket Board, the richest cricket board rules doesn’t apply for them.”
“I am so glad at least the Indian System (Judiciary) is good. They got hold of these corrupt officials and kept them out of the CB. But ICC directors allowed Srinivasan to sit in the ICC main chair. This where I always say when this big three came into power the game is going to Indian Cricket Board’s hand.”
“If this goes for another 3-4 years cricket will suffer. It is important all test playing cricket board’s get together and fight for their places. Don’t know whether they have the backbone.”
De Silva too echoed similar thoughts as his captain and stressed on the importance of education to young cricketers about the corruption in the sport.
“I felt really sorry for Mohammad Aamer. He was just a 18-year-old kid when that incident happened. ICC cannot kill those youngsters. You need to educate them on corruption and match fixing. They get dragged into it because they are unaware. When on tour you are bound to meet such people (Bookies) need to educate and show examples. That’s where the psychology aspect comes in,” said Sri Lanka’s World Cup winning hero.
Spin wizard Muralitharan also shared De Silva’s sentiments, saying that stern actions were needed to curb the evils from the game.
