Arjuna Ranatunga is the greatest captain in the history of Sri Lankan cricket and he is the only one who has won then the 50 over World Cup in the year 1996 when they were not the favorites and he led them with inspiration and he was also one of the best batters in the team so he was an excellent player for a long period of time for his nation. After retiring from cricket he ventured into politics and has been very successful there as well. He will always be a hero for the Sri Lankan people.
Arjuna Ranatunga played for Sri Lanka in the 1980s and the 1990s and looking at him a lot of the younger Sri Lankan players came into the National team and they served the nation with great aplomb and he has an unparalleled legacy as being one of the few skippers to win the big one in 50 overs. So, let’s look at the profile stats and records of Arjuna Ranatunga.
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Profile :
Personal Information :
The full name of Arjuna Ranatunga is Deshamanya Arjuna Ranatunga and he was born on 1st December 1953 Gampaha which is now in Sri Lanka and from a young age he was into cricket and was inspired by the greats and wanted to win the World Cup for Sri Lanka one day and eventually his dream came true. Despite being of short height he used to play such shots that would take the breath away of the fans and he was a left handed batter as well. After he retired from cricket he joined politics from 2001 and is active to this day and is serving the Sri Lankan people with his politics nowadays.
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International Information :
He made his debut for Sri Lanka in the year 1982 and played for 18 years till the year 2000 and he was an icon as long as he played the game. His first test match was on 17th February 1982 against England and after a 18 year long career he played his last test match on 6th August 2000 against South Africa thus ending an extraordinary career for Sri Lanka. His ODI debut was on 14th February 1982 against England and he stayed at the top for 17 years in this format and on 30th May 1999 vs Kenya, he played his last ODI match.
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Career Stats :
Competition | Test | ODI |
Matches | 93 | 269 |
Runs scored | 5105 | 7456 |
Batting average | 35.69 | 35.84 |
100s/50s | 4/38 | 4/49 |
Top score | 135* | 131* |
Balls bowled | 2120 | 4710 |
Wickets | 16 | 79 |
Bowling average | 65.00 | 47.55 |
5 Wickets in an innings | 0 | 0 |
10 wickets in a match | 0 | 0 |
Best bowling | 2/20 | 4/14 |
Catches | 47 | 63 |
Records :
He has the record for the most runs scored by any batsman in ODI history at number 5 position (4675 runs) and also the first to score over 4500 ODI runs when batting at no 5 position.
Only captain from Sri Lanka to win the 50 over World Cup in 1996.
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