Arjuna points fingers at Lankan board

COLOMBO: Arjuna Ranatunga loves a fight. At 45, he may be greying and developed a bigger waistline but retains that bulldog spirit.
Unceremoniously sacked as the chairman of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) two months ago, the former Lankan captain has hauled the sports minister Gamini Lokuge to court.
Ranatunga insists he was sacked because he was proving to a be deterrent to the massive corruption prevalent in the board.He was alleged to have stood in the way of the cricketers asking them to opt for "country before money".
It caused bad blood between the Lankan and Indian boards too. On Saturday, Ranatunga cleared the air on a host of issues that have dogged his tenure as SLC boss. "I had no issues with the BCCI," he said.
"During all our meetings with the Indian board, Sharad Pawar was like a father figure guiding us. I was also not against the Sri Lankan players��� participation in the Indian Premier League. I never told them not to participate in the IPL." His bone of contention was: if a agent can get a 10% cut from the player���s IPL earnings, why can���t that money be given to the board?
He was candid in admitting that he doesn���t like T20 cricket. "I maybe old-fashioned and not good enough but I don���t believe in Twenty20 cricket. I prefer traditional cricket," he reiterated on Saturday too.
He cocked a snook at the current administration, saying despite possessing two world class spinners in Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis, the Sri Lankans have rolled out flat tracks to the Indians. "It looked like some of the wickets were prepared for the opposition team. I don���t know who is running the game in the country," the former captain wondered.
He went on to compliment the Indian team too. "Honestly, for the first time I am seeing an Indian team play so well," he stressed.