New Delhi. The Ranatunga family of Sri Lanka rivals the famous Mohammad family of Pakistan in cricket. Like the Mohammed family of Pakistan, four members of the Ranatunga family of Sri Lanka have represented the country in international cricket. Four brothers of Mohammed family – Wazir, Hanif, Mushtaq and Sadiq played for Pakistan cricket team in international cricket, on the same lines, four brothers of Ranatunga family also played for Sri Lanka – Dhammika, Arjun, Nishantha and Sanjeev.
Talking about the Ranatunga brothers, even though Dhammika is the eldest among the four brothers, his personality was overshadowed by Arjun’s ‘giant’ cricket image. The most important member of this family, Arjuna Ranatunga, is considered the ‘Godfather’ of Sri Lankan cricket. The interesting thing is that Dhammika, Nishanka and Sanjeev, all three started their international career during Arjun’s captaincy. Left-handed batsman Arjun made Sri Lanka the champion of the World Cup 1996 under his captaincy. It was under his leadership and guidance that Sri Lanka became the powerhouse of world cricket in the 1990s and 2000s. Arjun gave full support to excellent players like Sanath Jayasuriya, Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan and with their help, Sri Lanka was established as a strong team in world cricket.
The Ranatunga Brothers!
Arjuna, Sanjeewa, Dammika and Nishantha. pic.twitter.com/Bi6Bn6hWzt
— Cricfinity (@cricfinity) August 9, 2020
Arjun Ranatunga always stood in favor of the players
Like Imran Khan of Pakistan, Arjun always stood in favor of his players. In Australia, when the umpires declared off-spinner Muralitharan’s action as a no-ball considering his action suspicious, Arjun did not shy away from taking the tough decision of leaving the field with the team. Arjun Ranatunga, who was active in Sri Lankan politics after retiring from cricket, came into limelight at the end of last year by criticizing the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). He held BCCI responsible for ruining Sri Lankan cricket. The Sri Lankan government later apologized for this statement of Ranatunga, which came after the poor performance of the Sri Lankan team in the World Cup 2023.
Arjun played 97 tests and 269 ODIs.
Among the Ranatunga brothers, Dhammika (Dammika Ranatunga) may be older in age but Arjun was the first to play for Sri Lanka. Arjun, who made his debut in international cricket on 14 February 1982, played 97 Test and 269 ODI matches. He scored four centuries each in both Test and ODI. He has 5105 runs in Tests at an average of 35.69 and 7456 runs in ODIs at an average of 37.84. As a medium pace bowler, Arjun also took 16 wickets in Tests and 79 wickets in ODIs.
Dhammika is older than Arjun but debuted later
Dhammika, who was about one and a quarter years older than Arjun, made his Test debut on 8 December 1989 against Australia in Brisbane. Arjun was the captain of the team at the time of his international debut. In this test which was a draw, Dhammika had scored 40 runs while opening. Dhammika played two Tests and four ODIs in her two-year international career. He could score only 87 runs at an average of 29 in Tests and 49 runs at an average of 12.25 in ODIs. Dhammika started her ODI career on 5 December 1990 against India in Pune. In this match, he scored 25 runs as an opener and was bowled by Sachin Tendulkar.
Nishanta played two ODIs but could not score any runs.
The international journey of Nishantha Ranatunga, another brother of Arjun Ranatunga, was of only two ODIs. The interesting thing is that not a single international run is recorded in his account. Nishant, who started his international career against Zimbabwe on 3 February, got a chance to bat in only one innings and in this match against Pakistan too, he became the victim of Wasim Akram without scoring any runs.
Sanjeev Ranatunga has two test centuries in his name
The fourth brother Sanjeeva Ranatunga started his career by playing ODI against Pakistan on 3 August 1994. Sanjeev played 9 tests and 13 ODIs for Sri Lanka. In Test cricket, he scored 531 runs (average 33.18) with the help of two centuries and as many half-centuries. Sanjeev scored both these centuries against Zimbabwe. In ODIs, Sanjeev scored 253 runs at an average of 23, during which 70 was his top score. Apart from three brothers, Arjun Ranatunga’s son Dhyan has also been a cricketer and has played as a wicketkeeper batsman in Sri Lankan domestic cricket.