Ranatunga irked by SLC stance on ‘Big Three’

8 March 2014 06:10 am

Karachi-Terming the stance of the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) against the ‘Big Three’ as disappointing, the former Sri Lanka captain Arjuna Ranatunga said it could have an adverse impact in the longer run.

“I think the ‘Big Three’ — BCCI, CA and ECB — have different agenda, and I am very disappointed with SLC which took a U-turn and decided to support the revised draft recently,” said Ranatunga while talking to a leading Pakistani TV channel.

The Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) had originally refrained from voting on the revised proposal at the ICC meeting in Singapore but later the Executive Committee of the SLC decided to support the governance, finance and FTP changes in the ICC which were proposed by Big Three.

At the moment, Pakistan’s is the only cricket board which has not approved the proposed revamp.

The 1996 World Cup winning Sri Lankan captain further said that had the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and SLC joined hands, the current situation would have been different.

“If Sri Lanka and Pakistan got together to work against these particular policies, I am sure we could have made a big impact,” said Ranatunga.

“The countries supportive of the Big-three proposal might get benefited in the near future but in the longer run, all these countries would struggle. Ultimately the game of Cricket will suffer big-time,” said Ranatunga.

On the Asia Cup final on coming Saturday between Pakistan and Sri Lanka, Ranatunga pinned hopes with his home side but admitted that the unpredictable nature of Pakistan could turn the result around.

“Comparatively, Sri Lanka have been playing better in the tournament. However, the unpredictability of the Pakistan team sometimes becomes their strength as well,” observed Ranatunja who is rated among the best cricketing brains around.

“Afridi is not the only one to watch out for in the final. They [Pakistan] have other quality players too. The team which holds its nerve under pressure on the day would have a better chance to win,” concluded Ranatunga.—Agencies