Chennai: Former captain, Arjuna Ranatunga on Friday said political interference was the reason for dip in standards of cricket in Sri Lanka and accused the country's cricket Board for it. "There is political interference in the selection and that is why we are going down and down in standards." Ranatunga, who is leading a Sri Lankan eleven to play an exhibition match in Mumbai to raise funds for setting up of a hospital in Pune by well known film singer, Lata Mangeskar, said. In a brief chat with reporters, Ranatunga, who was in a hurry to proceed to the airport, attacked the Sri Lankan cricket Board for the fall in the team's performance since it won the World Cup in 1996. Ranatunga was of the opinion that the Sri Lankan Sports Ministry has not being doing anything and added that the "interference" in the selection had been happening for the past couple of years. As for the team's performance in the recent World Cup, he said, "We are disappointed but we made mistakes too. We did not play well enough against the Australians in the semi-finals." Vice-captain of Sri Lanka World Cup team, Mahela Jayawardene joined his senior colleague Ranatunga saying, "I am also equally disappointed about my own form and the team's poor showing." He said he has been consulting his coaches about the dip in his form and hoped that he would get back to form again. Referring to dropping of few senior players for the tri-series in Sharjah early next month, Ranatunga said, "No player can complain on these aspects when they have not performed well to continue in the team." On the other hand, off spinner Muthiah Muralitharan refused to accept that there was big gap in the standards between the Australians and other top cricket playing countries in the world, especially in One-dayers. "The gap is not increasing. It is just that the Aussies maintained their winning habit and therefore their confidence is on a high." "The confidence will drop once they also lose a couple of games," Muralitharan, who has also been dropped from the squad to Sharjah, said. He praised the Indian team's performance in the World Cup in South Africa. Denying that the Sri Lankan performance was bad in the World Cup, Muralitharan said, "We reached the semi-finals. Some big teams could not even do that." The team enroute to Mumbai without skipper Sanat Jayasuriya, pace bowler Chaminda Vaas and the retired Aravinda de Silva left for Mumbai this afternoon.
Extras:We are waiting for confirmation: SL Board
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