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Arjuna RanatungaArjuna Ranatunga is a Sri Lankan cricketer-turned politican. Arjuna comes from Gampaha, a town twenty miles north of Colombo. He, along with his brothers, studied at Ananda College Colomb 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 Ananda team for two years. He is currently the Deputy Minister of Tourism for Sri Lanka. He is the longest serving captain of his side (from 1988 to 1999). A master tactician and an excellent player of spin bowling, he had the reputation for being a slow but efficient runner between the wickets. 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 twat", a comment picked up by the stump microphones and broadcast on television. Ranatunga made his debut in Sri Lanka's inuagural test while still a school boy, and went on to score Sri Lanka's first half century in this game. Sri Lanka were considered perpetual underdogs but this image changed completely during the 1996 Cricket World Cup when Sri Lanka won it under the captaincy of Ranatunga. Though not as successful in test cricket as in ODI's, Sri Lankan cricket is no longer underestimated, especially on home soil. Ranatunga is one of the people responsible for this turn around. Ranatunga, Arjuna Ranatunga, Arjuna
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