Sri Lanka’s 1996 World Cup-winning captain Arjuna Ranatunga said on Saturday that he was inspired by India’s 1983 World Cup win over the West Indies and that the Kapil Dev-led team beat the best team in the tournament’s history.
Rantunga, 50, said that he was surprised with the way India upstaged the mighty West Indies without any notable stars in their ranks. “I was surprised that this team with no big stars apart from Kapil and Sunny [Sunil Gavaskar] could beat the West Indies and that really inspired me. Thirteen years later we were also able to do that [win the World Cup],” Ranatunga said at a cricket event organised by Aaj Tak.
Talking about the World Cup-winning Sri Lankan team, Australia’s Ricky Ponting, a three-time winner himself, said that the Ranatunga-led side was too hot to handle. “That Sri Lankan team revolutionised ODI cricket at that time. They were the first team to go all out in the first 15 overs and no one had seen that before. Two years later, we started following them with Adam Gilchrist going all guns blazing, so they were the best team for me,” the Australian said.
Kapil too praised the victorious Sri Lankan players saying they played as a unit, and with Arvinda de Silva in top form they were a tough team to beat.
