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Arjuna Ranatunga (born 1 December 1963, Colombo) is a Sri Lankan cricketer-turned politician, described as "one of Sri Lanka's most successful cricketers" in a career spanning the first 20 years of Sri Lanka's Test status. He captained Sri Lanka in 59 Tests and 193 One-day Internationals, more than any other man.

Early life
Ranatunga comes from Gampaha, a town twenty miles north of Colombo. He, along with his brothers, studied at Ananda College Colombo where his mother was a teacher. Arjuna's cricketing career started and was carefully nurtured at school. He played cricket for both the junior and senior teams and captained the Ananda College senior team for two years, and among his achievements was an innings of 315 not out in an Under-14 match.

Debut
A left-handed batsman and right arm medium pace bowler, he made his first-class debut for a Sri Lanka Board President's XI in 1982 at the age of eighteen, and a week later played in Sri Lanka's inaugural Test match. He went on to score Sri Lanka's first half-century in this game.

However, after that half-century, Ranatunga played six Test innings and three ODI innings without passing 40, and was left out of the ODIs in the tour of India. He did tour Zimbabwe for a non-Test tour in October and November 1982, but recorded a pair of ducks in his only game, an innings defeat which handed Zimbabwe the first-class series by 1–0. He missed the 1982–83 tour of Australia and New Zealand in March, but returned "successful[ly]" for the home series against Australia in April, where he scored an unbeaten 55 off 39 balls after Sri Lanka needed 90 off the last 12 overs, which won him Man of the Match honours in the second ODI. Sri Lanka were outplayed in their only Test against Australia, taking four wickets in an innings defeat, but Ranatunga, with his first ball of the match and 25th in Test cricket, claimed his first Test wicket as Graeme Wood was caught at long leg. He also contributed 90 runs, including sixteen fours, and that was deemed good enough to go to the 1983 World Cup.

World Cup 1983
Sri Lanka finished last in their group with only one win from six matches, while Ranatunga, who had never toured England before for first-class matches, passed 30 in both his first innings, but then suffered two ducks and was moved up the order. Batting at three, he made 15 of 184 in Sri Lanka's only win of the tournament, before getting another duck against England. Of the Sri Lankans, only Ashantha de Mel (who was the leading wicket-taker of the tournament) and Athula Samarasekara (who played two matches) scored their runs at a lower batting average, and of the bowlers who bowled more than 10 World Cup overs, for any team, only two had a higher economy rate than Ranatunga's 5.43 from 44.1 overs.

Establishment
From the 1983 World Cup until the end of the 1984–85 season, Ranatunga played 13 ODIs and four Tests, missing the first half of the 1984–85 World Series Cup in Australia after getting injured in a tour match against Western Australia. On the personal front, this part of his career included two unbeaten ODI half-centuries, one in a winning cause, coupled with three wickets, as Sri Lanka level the three-match series with New Zealand (which was later lost 1–2), and the other when chasing 310 to win and coming in at 133 for five as Sri Lanka lost to West Indies by 83 runs. Of his 13 ODI innings, however, eight resulted in scores below 20, and he averaged just above 25 both with bat and ball in this period.

He also recorded three Test half-centuries and his first century in first class cricket during this period. The Test half-centuries were in losing causes during the 1983–84 Test series with New Zealand, but his 84, his highest Test score thus far, was made in a drawn game in England in August 1984, in the only Test of that tour. Ranatunga played seven further first class games on tour, and ended with 419 runs at an average of 41.90, which also included 118 against Kent.

In 1985 Sri Lanka's fortunes reversed, as they won their first Test series, against India at home, and also drew the ODI series 1–1. Ranatunga contributed, making his first Test century with 111 in the first, drawn game, and in the second match, he scored 21 in his only innings and took the wicket of Sunil Gavaskar for 52 in Sri Lanka's first Test victory. In the third Test, Ranatunga made 38 in a stand of 73 for the first wicket, as Sri Lanka let away a first-innings lead of 51, but it was Roy Dias and Duleep Mendis who were credited with "a magnificent rearguard action" after scoring centuries in the second innings, while Ranatunga, coming in after Dias, was bowled by Chetan Sharma for 0. He also bettered his ODI highest score during this series, making 64 off 48 balls in the first ODI, but India made it to a last-over win.

Captaincy
Ranatunga went on to captain Sri Lanka in 1988, taking control of the national team for the next eleven years through one of its most successful periods. He was widely recognised as a master tactician and was famous for defending his players at all costs.

Ranatunga is also remembered for his stand in the 1995 Boxing Day Test against Australia in which Australian umpire Darrell Hair called Muralitharan for throwing. (Muralitharan was subsequently cleared by bio-mechanical experts hired by the ICC.) Ranatunga exchanged heated words with umpire Hair and led his team to a point just inside the boundary line, halting play, until the Sri Lankan management conferred with him and play resumed.

The Sri Lankan national team were considered perpetual underdogs but this image changed completely during the 1996 Cricket World Cup, when Sri Lanka defeated tournament favourites Australia to win it under the captaincy of Ranatunga. This victory, for which Ranatunga was a pivotal part both as batsman and captain, has ensured that Sri Lanka are no longer underestimated on the world cricket stage.

Playing style
Ranatunga's weight was also notable, and gave rise to an incident during a game played in humid conditions when he called for a runner, claiming that he had "sprained something". Opposition (Australian) wicket-keeper Ian Healy, responded that he could not get a runner for being "an overweight, unfit, fat (expletive)", a comment picked up by the stump microphones and broadcast on television.

Ranatunga lost the national team captaincy in 1999 after Sri Lanka's poor showing at the World Cup in England, although he was chosen as one of five Wisden Cricketers of the Year for that year. He retired from playing cricket in 2001.

He entered into politics by joining the PA led by Chandrika Kumaratunga. Later, he was the Deputy Minister of Tourism for Sri Lanka.

International

 * Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan first-class

 * Sinhalese Sports Club

Tests
Test Debut: vs England, Colombo, 1981-1982 Last Test: vs South Africa, Colombo, 2000-2001
 * Ranatunga's highest Test batting score of 135 not out was made against Pakistan, Colombo, 1985-1986
 * His best Test bowling effort of 2 for 17 came against New Zealand, Kandy, 1983-1984
 * Ranatunga's captaincy record was as follows: 56 matches, 12 wins, 19 losses, 25 draws.

One-day internationals
ODI Debut: vs England, Colombo, 1981-1982 Last ODI: vs Kenya, Southampton, 1999 World Cup
 * His highest ODI batting score of 131 not out was made against India, Colombo, 1997
 * Ranatunga's best bowling figures of 4 for 14 came against India at Kanpur in 1986-1987
 * His captaincy record was as follows: 193 matches, 89 wins, 95 losses, 1 tie, 8 no result