It’s no secret that Shane Warne and Arjuna Ranatunga weren’t friends – far from it, in fact. If anything, they simply did not like each other, and that equation remained unchanged even after both had retired from the game. In his book, Shane Warne’s Century: My Top 100 Test Cricketers, Warne ranked Ranatunga 93rd, while the former Sri Lankan World Cup-winning captain famously labelled the Australian spin great an “overrated” bowler and ‘not a role model’ for youngsters.
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It has been four years since Warne’s passing, and while it remains unclear whether Ranatunga still holds the same view, his long-time teammate Aravinda de Silva has revealed an intriguing conversation he once had with Warne – one that had remained under wraps all these years. The rivalry, which began during the 1996 Cricket World Cup following Ranatunga’s jibe, appeared to get under Warne’s skin to such an extent that it affected his bowling rhythm altogether.
“It’s a way of getting under the skin of the opposition. Just before the final, he mentioned that Shane Warne was not a great bowler. He [Ranatunga] said, ‘I don’t know why people rave so much about his bowling’, to the point that it made Warne very upset. Long after their cricketing careers were over, Warne mentioned, ‘Now I know why he said it. It got under my skin, and I just couldn’t control my bowling. Every time I was bowling at him, the only thing I wanted to do was get him out, but I was not focused. That probably is how he was able to get into someone’s mind,” de Silva said during an event.
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Rantunga’s remarks rattled Warne
The effects of Ranatunga’s words were evident in the 1996 World Cup final, when Warne was all over the place while bowling to the former left-handed batter. Ranatunga walked out to bat when Sri Lanka were 148/3, in chase of 242. Warne was clearly aroused by Ranatunga’s exact quotes that stated, ‘Never quite understood the hype around his bowling’, giving the big guy a long stare before he took strike.
Ranatunga took his time until he decided to take Warne on. The leg-spinner tossed around a few dibby-dobblies, allowing Ranatunga to win the battle. In the end, the skipper remained unbeaten on 47 off 37 and became the first player to score the World Cup-winning runs.
Ranatunga played 83 Tests for Sri Lanka, scoring 5105 runs and 7456 more in ODIs, whereas Warne went on to become the greatest leg-spinner in cricket history, finishing with 708 wickets in 145 Tests. He even picked 293 ODI wickets from 194 matches and was part of Australia’s 1999 World Cup-winning squad.
