Arjuna Ranatunga tells Sri Lankans not to behave like Indian fans

New Delhi: He has become worst of the lot. Last month he claimed that the 2011 ICC World Cup final was fixed, which started controversies in his native Sri Lanka and also in India. And today, reports have surfaced that he has made inflamatory comments about Indians fans.

Well, we are talking about legendary Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga, who once stood among the giants of the game even as a tiny island nation fought to earn global recognition. Today, the 53-year-old is a minister in the Sri Lanka government, but he is thriving on controversies.

Ranatunga has reportedly requested Sri Lankan cricket fans to 'stop behaving like Indian spectators', saying Lanka "have a very good history and culture."

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Yes, he was obviously referring to Sunday's bottle throwing incident at the end of the third one-day international match between India and Sri Lanka in Pallekele. The unruly behaviour forced the match to stopped for a while. But eventually India hit those required eight runs without much a do to seal the five-match series.

"Such incidents should not be repeated. Sri Lankans love cricket and they feel sad when we lose a match. We have made lots of sacrifices for cricket and those sacrifices had been made while losing lots of things. Every cricketer in our team is mentally depressed,” reports qouted Ranatunga as saying while addressing the media at the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation head office.

Unfortunately, Sunday's incident reminded many of the infamous 1996 World Cup semifinal in Kolkata. Lanka, under Ranatunga, were in complete control of the match in front of a packed Eden Gardens crowd, but some unruly crowds started throwing bottles and burning playcards. India forfeited the match to eventual champions.

“I request our cricket lovers not to behave like Indian spectators. We have a very good history and culture. Such misbehaviour is not accepted in our culture and history,” he added.

The fourth match of the ODI series will be tomorrow (Thursday) in Colombo.