Arjuna Ranatunga was Sri Lankan cricket's Napoleon, the man who transformed a diffident bunch of no-hopers into a confident, world-beating outfit. Excerpts from an interview in which Sri Lanka's most influential captain spoke to Wisden Asia Cricket about that remarkable metamorphosis and more.

On Sri Lanka's turning point
"I always thought we were a nation with a lot of cricket-playing talent. That had been the case for 20 or 30 years before we got Test status. But when it came to winning matches, the different aspects of our game – batting, bowling, fielding and mental toughness – didn't complement each other. When I took over as captain in 1989, that was still the case. I think the first thing I did was instill a sense of self-confidence. We needed to believe that we could win Test matches, especially away from home. I think the New Zealand tour of 1994-95 was very crucial. We beat them at Napier and it was the fast bowlers – never our main strength – who did much of the damage. After that, the players and supporters realised that we could compete and be successful against any side.

I think we began to be feared as opponents after the tour of Pakistan [1995-96]. We lost the first Test, but came back to win the next two. The second Test at Faisalabad was very close [Sri Lanka won by 42 runs] but we won the third fairly comfortably [by 144 runs]. That was a watershed tour for us. We were able to carry the confidence gained there all the way through to the World Cup and beyond.

I'd say The Oval Test of 1998 was the second-best thing to happen to Sri Lankan cricket after the World Cup victory. We had always been given just one Test by the England cricket board and we badly wanted to prove that we deserved more. England made a lot of runs in the first innings [445] but I think the fact that we set about chasing that so positively upset them. Sanath [Jayasuriya] played a great innings and Murali had a fantastic match [16 wickets], but everyone contributed in some way. And as any subcontinental cricketer will tell you, beating the English in England is very special.

On the team's change of attitude
I think the way we are is a result of the culture we're brought up in. By nature, we're soft-spoken, nice people. I don't think I ever tried to change that. All I did was make sure that people didn't take advantage of that, or use that aspect of our character to pull us down. We didn't change our nature one fine day. It was just that we would not tolerate any nonsense. In a sense the sledging, the fact that they needed to resort to it, made us realise that we were a good team.

I was just a tough captain who went out there thinking that anything could happen. If something did, I was ready for it. Along with the belief that we could do well against anyone there was also the determination not to be bullied. If someone took a shot at us, we wanted to give back two.

On World Cup 1996 and tactics
Well, I always felt that Sanath [Jayasuriya] had a lot of ability. Initially he was not happy about being asked to open the innings [the first time was during the Hero Cup in India in 1993-94]. I got the feeling that the experiment would really work after he made some good scores against Pakistan [three fifties on the trot in Colombo in 1994-95]. He also opened in a Test match against Pakistan on that tour, but failed. But soon after that he made a Test hundred at Adelaide, opening the innings [1995-96].

Even [Romesh] Kaluwitharana was a middle-order batsman who was sent up the order to open. Maybe both of them succeeded because they were told that they would be looked after even if they failed. These moves came at a time when we were trying out a lot of different things to get an edge. People always think of the World Cup when they think of those two, but we started planning much before.

For the full interview, get a copy of Wisden Asia Cricket, January 2003

Dileep Premachandran is an assistant editor with Wisden Asia Cricket and Wisden.com in India

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