In a stinging attack on Lalit Modi, former Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga has blamed the Indian Premier League commissioner for the national team's disastrous show in this year's Twenty20 World Championships. "India lost the Twenty20 World Cup thanks to Lalit Modi.
No one else. Lalit Modi and his IPL. When I was playing, there were players who always wanted to achieve something for their country – we used to play for our clubs for no money," Ranatunga said in a speech to the Oxford Union to be carried in the January issue of 'The Wisden Cricketer' magazine.
"It was an honour to play for our country. Not like nowadays," he added. India, who went into the event as defending champions, couldn't go past even the first stage when the tourney was staged in England earlier this year.
The players went into the World Cup within days of competing at the IPL and India coach Gary Kirsten had blamed the team's poor show on fatigue. Ranatunga, who led Sri Lanka to the 1996 World Cup triumph, felt "a lot of unwanted people" have started getting involved with the game, especially in Twenty20 events.
"They will come in with Twenty20, they will burn money with Twenty20, then they will vanish," he said.
{{/usCountry}}"They will come in with Twenty20, they will burn money with Twenty20, then they will vanish," he said.
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