“That team of mine would have beaten India in India in 3 days”

Sri Lanka’s World Cup-winning captain Arjuna Ranatunga is known for his controversial statements. Ranatunga has made another shocking claim that his 1996 World Cup-winning team would have beaten the current Indian team in India inside just three days.

Arjuna Ranatunga’s statements come on the back of some poor performances by India in the last few Tests. The Men in Blue lost the Test series in Australia and lost its hold on the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

The loss to Australia came after a shocking series defeat to New Zealand at home. India, who have been close to invincible at home since the last decade, suffered a shocking clean-sweep to New Zealand, who have struggled on their past Test tours to the subcontinent.

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Arjuna Ranatunga makes a shocking claim on Team India

Arjuna Ranatunga claimed that his side had a world-class bowling attack consisting of Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralidaran. Ranatunga feels that Sri Lanka’s 1996 team would have beaten India on Indian soil easily.

“With bowlers like (Chaminda) Vaas and Murali (Muttiah Muralidaran), that team of mine would have beaten India in India in three days,” Ranatunga was quoted as saying by the Telegraph.

Sri Lanka’s World Cup-winning team included world-class players like Muttiah Muralitharan, Chaminda Vaas, Aravinda de Silva, Sanath Jayasuriya, Romesh Kaluwitharana, and Marvan Atapattu alongside Arjuna Ranatunga himself.

Aravinda de Silva took Sri Lanka to the 1996 World Cup title

Sri Lanka defeated Australia in the 1996 World Cup final held in Lahore to lift their only ODI World Cup trophy so far. Arjuna Ranatunga is known to be an inspirational captain who stood behind his team and led them from the front.

In the final, allrounder Aravida de Silva produced an all-round performance to take Sri Lanka to a memorable win. De Silva finished with figures of 3-42 in 9 overs with his off-spin bowling and was his team’s best bowler of the day.

He didn’t stop here and produced an even better performance with the bat. Aravinda de Silva scored 107 off 124 balls with 13 fours and remained unbeaten till the end. Fittingly, skipper Arjuna Ranatunga was at the other end, remaining unbeaten on 47 off just 37 balls as Sri Lanka won by 7 wickets with 22 balls to spare.

India’s shocking Test series defeat to New Zealand

India suffered a shocking Test series defeat at home to New Zealand last year. Before the series, the Men in Blue were expected to steamroll their opponents, who hadn’t been the best travelers to India till that point.

However, New Zealand achieved something that most of the teams only dreamt of achieving in their lifetime. India prepared the spin-friendly surfaces at home but the decision proved detrimental for them as they succumbed to New Zealand’s spin-bowling trio of Ajaz Patel, Mitchell Santner, and Glenn Phillips.

New Zealand went on to achieve one of the best results in their cricket history by defeating India 3-0 on Indian soil. The defeat hurt India badly as they were unable to qualify for the World Test Championship (WTC) final.