Delhi Daredevils vice-captain Mahela Jayawardene Friday brushed off former Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga’s take on the Indian Premier League (IPL) as being his own opinion.
Ranatunga has blamed the Indian cricket board for “harming the game” through the IPL and said it would produce butchers instead of better Test players.
Ranatunga, who led the Sri Lankan team to a historic World Cup triumph in 1996, blamed the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for India’s slide in Test arena.
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“It is his own opinion. I don’t think he (Ranatunga) has been a great fan of IPL. It is completely his opinion, there are other greats who like the version. There are many who believe that cricketers have improved their game,” Jayawardene told reporters.
Jayawardene cited the example of India’s budding all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and Australian David Warner, for IPL being a great platform for youngsters to get into the national side.
“For example, Ravindra Jadeja has launched his international cricketing career from IPL. He has improved and has gone a long way. A lot of youngsters have done the same way. It is up to the individuals,” said Jayawardene.
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“A batsmen like David Warner - how he has changed from the starting of T20 cricket. Now he is the opening batsmen for Australia as well. He is pretty aggressive as well. The first hundred he scored changed the whole match.”
The Sri Lankan captain spoke about how he had to make changes in his own game to be successful in the shortest format of the game and how IPL helped improve his own game.
“I had to improve my game. I had to be innovative which has helped my one day game as well, I started opening the batting. even in test cricket batsmen are scoring runs quickly,” he said.