Ranatunga's take on IPL his own- Mahela

21 April 2012 01:43 am - 29 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

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Delhi Daredevils vice-captain Mahela Jayawardene Friday brushed off former Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga's take on the Indian Premier League (IPL) as being his own opinion.

Ranatunga has blamed the Indian cricket board for "harming the game" through the IPL and said it would produce butchers instead of better Test players.

Ranatunga, who led the Sri Lankan team to a historic World Cup triumph in 1996, blamed the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for India's slide in Test arena.

"It is his own opinion. I don't think he (Ranatunga) has been a great fan of IPL. It is completely his opinion, there are other greats who like the version. There are many who believe that cricketers have improved their game," Jayawardene told reporters.

Jayawardene cited the example of India's budding all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and Australian David Warner, for IPL being a great platform for youngsters to get into the national side.

"For example, Ravindra Jadeja has launched his international cricketing career from IPL. He has improved and has gone a long way. A lot of youngsters have done the same way. It is up to the individuals," said Jayawardene.

"A batsmen like David Warner - how he has changed from the starting of T20 cricket. Now he is the opening batsmen for Australia as well. He is pretty aggressive as well. The first hundred he scored changed the whole match."

The Sri Lankan captain spoke about how he had to make changes in his own game to be successful in the shortest format of the game and how IPL helped improve his own game.

"I had to improve my game. I had to be innovative which has helped my one day game as well, I started opening the batting. even in test cricket batsmen are scoring runs quickly," he said. (IANS)

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Comments - 29

Dammika Saturday, 21 April 2012 10:08 AM

If you are really into Cricket .... TEST Cricket is still the best. What Mahela says is correct. It is up to the individual ... and Arjuna has given his concerns of the game loved by major portion of Sri Lankans

Nodrog Sunday, 22 April 2012 09:41 AM

Who has the time these days to watch a match for 5 days which most times ends in a draw?

warren Sunday, 22 April 2012 06:51 AM

Hey moron.. "$" that is that dollar sign.. "pounds" is a British currency.. If you are gonna comment, atleast try to make sense..

එන්.ඇලන්ඩ් Sunday, 22 April 2012 04:35 AM

ඔව් ජූඩ් , අනිත් එක අයි. පී .එල් එකෙන් ලැබෙන මුදල් කන්දරාව එක්ක එයට විරුද්දව වචනයක් වත් කතා කරනවට මහේල විරුද්ධ අයුරු පෙනී යනවා,
මෙමගින් ක්‍රීඩකයන්ට ලැබෙන පෞද්ගලික ධන ලාභ ගැන අපි සතුටු විය යුතුය. නමුත් බොහෝ ක්‍රීඩකයන් එහිදී තම රට වෙනුවෙන් ක්‍රීඩා කිරිමෙදී පෙන්වන කැපවීමට වඩා දැඩි කෙපවීමක් පෙන්වන බව නම් පැහැදිලි කරුණක්. තවද 2003 වසරේදී මුදල් ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කරමින් ලෝක කුසලාන තරඟාවලියේදී ලකුණු 18 පමණක් ලබාගනිමින් (ඔහු ලෝක කුසලානයේ දී ලබා ගන්නා සෑම ලකුනකටම මුදල් ගෙවන බවට එක්තරා සමාගමක් පොරොන්දු වී තිබුනා) තමා මුදල් වලට විකිනෙන්නේ නැති බව පෙන්වූ මහේල දැන් මුදල් නිසා මෙලෙස කතා කිරීම කණගාටුවට කරුණක්,

senna Sunday, 22 April 2012 03:37 AM

what a disgrace compared to all the educated we have in the parliament like Dr. Mervin

Sinhala Baudda Saturday, 21 April 2012 06:00 PM

Arjuna thinks he is the genius of cricket. He assumes so because of the world cup victory thanks to several factors.He is jealous of present day cricketers. There is no impact on Test cricket from IPL. T 20 has made cricket more popular.

kiribath Saturday, 21 April 2012 06:08 PM

most of these criketers are not much educated people, yet they ended up in parliment, WHY ?

Osanda Saturday, 21 April 2012 04:01 PM

IPL is like adult entertainment not at all good for kids...eye candy and entertainment for some adults...good for the players income.... actually it is good for Indian club cricketers it improves them for the next level. playing and training with world class players. but bad for our youngster players. Most of the Sri Lankan Cricketers Play all their life for country hence nothing wrong in paying one or two months for IPL for them and their families...In this country people expect only Soldeirs and Cricket players to be Patriots...Rest??

Ruwani Saturday, 21 April 2012 03:45 PM

I think IPL is just cricket canival...!!What we need from the sports Happy and lough,injoyement. This all get from ipl. Christ gale and k.p peterson like hoolywood sharukhan.! But its very sad meny of our nationla players sit on the IPL bench and not playing.?? may be its could hit mentaly and our national criket?

Duminda Saturday, 21 April 2012 03:34 PM

Hey Abdul - these both are personal veiews , money is factor for any one but Arjuna not sell his Cricket immagination to earn money durung his cricket era, only adverticement he support is for Polio with fee of charge. After he finish his cricket he came to olitics but we love Arjuna as a cricketer , we love mahela as a cricketer.

KG Saturday, 21 April 2012 03:01 PM

in my view arjuna is totally right! IPL is all about entertainment, mahela might say that lot of youngsters have improved because of IPL version but his facts are wrong, If you take an IPL team at least 2 or 3 players are already retired players example ganguly, Gilchrist and many more how can a player improve by playing retired old guys ?

Anil Saturday, 21 April 2012 12:16 PM

Arjuna is right. I have lost in interest in IPL. it is like a casino. It is obvious that what Arjuna said is his opinion. So there is nothing for Mahela to comment on unless he was instructed to do so. In which case it is a shame.

senna Saturday, 21 April 2012 12:16 PM

money talks

abdul Saturday, 21 April 2012 12:01 PM

arjuna is unlucky that ipl was not in his era of cricket. his worried that he cannot make money like this cricketers. people like nuwan kulasekara make $100000 pounds because of ipl.
so nothing harm

Lalith Saturday, 21 April 2012 10:27 AM

Jude; I respect your view; but we now live in a fast pace environment in which time matters most. What is wrong with a test match last in 3 -4 days? Does a test match necessarily to be played for 5 days? This what I called conservative mind set to measure the success of the game by no of days a match is being played!

ruki Saturday, 21 April 2012 04:54 AM

It is the correct thing to say, because its Arjuna's opinion. How many cricket lovers has newly joined the game? like wise there are pro's and cons. Better take it easy.

Dharshan Saturday, 21 April 2012 10:06 AM

Oh common Mahela...Didnt BCCI forced u to say these ? If anything it`ll do good for India but nothing for us..Mathews started to bowl for money , risking his career even..What a fool

michael Saturday, 21 April 2012 09:31 AM

Cricket is involving money whether it is test/odi/t20, unlike the early days. It is no more Gentleman's game. I am not against money being involved, but when money comes in between games spirit, it is really sad. That's what we see now often.

farook Saturday, 21 April 2012 09:44 AM

mahela is wrong
mahela uyou dont try to play with arjuna s exepirians

Ravi Saturday, 21 April 2012 09:36 AM

You play and earn, we watch and pay the electricity bill

John Saturday, 21 April 2012 09:47 AM

....and comradeship amongst international players which would not have come about as easily?

Nimal Saturday, 21 April 2012 09:47 AM

Were you not part of the team who went to the higher up in the government to say that you did not want play test cricket against England, just because it clased with IPL. I have never seen Arjuna apearing for any TV commercial, for him it is all playing cricket for the contry.

dave Saturday, 21 April 2012 09:21 AM

Ha haaa Money Money Money.
No Nooooo Busines Business
Yes yes yes Crab's Minister. ha haa hhaaa

Machan Sanga let's take best thing Money or Country...

Gorakaya Saturday, 21 April 2012 09:24 AM

Rajuna is right because this IPL is a flash in the pan. I used to watch it at the stat, but I have lost interest. Test cricket although sometimes can be boring is the real cricket. Lot of tactics involved and patience and planing as well. The England / Sri lanka test series was very interesting.

Analysis Saturday, 21 April 2012 09:06 AM

Mahela- Money talks with only selected facts, not the full picture. Arjuna is right!

Sammy Saturday, 21 April 2012 06:37 AM

Though I am not a great fan of IPL & T20 in general, I must admit that there have been some positives coming out of it:
1) Test cricket has become result oriented and less boring because of it, with average scores being 300 in a day.
2) Standard of fielding has improved leaps & bounds.
3) The exposure it brings to cricket worldwide is very good.

I Hussein Saturday, 21 April 2012 06:36 AM

I am not an Arjuna fan but what he says is 100% correct. IPL is harming the game. I have a hunch that its fixed as well. Although people enjoy this 'pol adi' game for which you dont need talent, there is no class which will eventually damage the whole game of cricket.

jude Saturday, 21 April 2012 06:32 AM

Mahela, no disrespect for your knowledge and talent along with your cricketing skills including been a great leader. However, Arjuna knows his Onions. IPL made you very rich in many ways. But IPL good only in spectators interest. IPL has done lot of damage to test players. These Test players now playing Test & ODI with IPL mind-set. Just look at Test cricket these days, most games finish within 3-4days. Aussie cricket in down-hill for few years now. Kangaroos not producing top notch cricketers from their system. Everyone want to play only for Big-bash. I think IPL going to fade in 3-4 years time. Most teams not making money. The IPL TV ratings down and spectators interest dwindling. Unless Americans can come with another format, IPL won't be around in 5 years.

Nodrog Saturday, 21 April 2012 05:32 AM

The public goes for entertainment and if the IPL provides it then so be it. Because of rankings teams now play the most boring test cricket.

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Ranatunga's take on IPL his own- Mahela

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