Arjuna Ranatunga Kicks Up A Storm, Takes Potshots At Jay Shah

Arjuna Ranatunga, the maverick World Cup-winning Sri Lanka captain and politician has accused the BCCI Secretary and Asian Cricket Council (ACC) president Jay Shah of influencing the International Cricket Council (ICC) to suspend the full membership of Sri Lanka Cricket. The ICC Board consists of representatives of 12 full member countries, three associate member countries, the Independent Chairman from New Zealand, Greg Barclay, the Independent female director, Indra Nooyi and the Chief Executive Geoff Allardice. It’s virtually impossible for a single entity, in this case, Jay Shah — set to helm the ICC from the annual conference in 2024 — to influence the course of action the Board should take. In September and during the Asia Cup, Ranatunga had cast aspersions on the ICC and the ACC.  And recently the Sri Lanka sports minister citing a Law removed the SLC Board after the national team’s poor showing in the ongoing World Cup,  especially after being shot out for 55 by India, and appointed Ranatunga as head of an ad hoc committee.  This was good enough for the ICC to convene a Board meeting and suspend the SLC.  An ICC statement said that Sri Lanka Cricket is in serious breach of its obligations as a Member, in particular, the requirement to manage its affairs autonomously and ensure that there is no government interference in the governance, regulation and/or administration of cricket in Sri Lanka.  All said and done Sri Lanka’s cricket appears to be down in the dumps.