Ranatunga

Calcutta: Arjuna Ranatunga, who was removed as the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) chairman on Tuesday, is expected to have an audience with the country’s President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, either on Sunday or on Monday.

Ranatunga, the straight-talking 1996 World Cup-winning captain and a Member of Parliament, wasn’t available for comment, but The Telegraph’s sources in Colombo confirmed that a one-on-one was “just hours away.”

It’s not clear what Rajapaksa will offer, but the buzz is that Ranatunga may again be invited to join the government. He has, in the past, been a deputy minister with multiple portfolios.

“Ranatunga wouldn’t like to be rehabilitated, so to say, in that manner... But, then, let’s see how his meeting with the President goes,” is what one source said.

While Rajapaksa himself made Ranatunga the SLC chairman in January, he’d been advised to follow protocol and get appointments okayed by sports minister Gamini Lokuge.

Ranatunga didn’t and paid the price. Lokuge, in fact, had been gunning for him for some months and is today calling the shots in cricket too.

“The sports minister is supposed to have the last word, but Ranatunga never bothered to refer anything to him... At times, that led to Lokuge annulling decisions, like the appointment of Hashan Tillekeratne as manager,” another source pointed out.

Besides clashing internally on appointments, Ranatunga earned the wrath of the powerful Board of Control for Cricket in India by being soft on the Indian Cricket League rebels and not being wowed by the officially-sanctioned Indian Premier League.

Worse, despite having been a pro-players’ captain, Ranatunga had differences with the Mahela Jayawardenes on more than one issue. The latest was his objection to an injured Ajantha Mendis accompanying the squad to Bangladesh.

Mahela, apparently, argued that the support staff would help Mendis recover quicker from his (right) ankle injury, but Ranatunga put his foot down.

The episode, it seems, both shocked and infuriated many. Came in handy for the sports minister as well.

With Ranatunga out of the SLC, there’s a good chance that Mendis will now join the squad before the second Test, in Chittagong, from January 3.