The Ranjit Fernando interview

In his interview to Faisal Shariff of Rediff On The Net, Sri Lankan team manager Ranjit Fernando made many pertinent points, about the role of the media, about the state of Lanka's world champion side, and prospects for the upcoming tournament. Your reactions to the interview are published below:

mok@rediffmail.com: Well,everybody is enchanted by the idea of Sri Lankans having started the restriction overs slog.YOU ARE WRONG.It was Tendulkar opening with Jadeja in New Zealand in '94 who started this thing.

Pradeep Chakraborty: pradeepc@rediffmail.com: Just one observation: New Zealand, West Indies and Zimbabwe are the dark horses of WC99. I reckon Windies to grab it again, if they click as a team.

Sainath : suryanas@yahoo.com: I feel that SL has slumped especially badly after Whatmore was fired. Clearly, the results are there to see for us. I agree with Ranjit Fernando about the media in the sub-continent. This was a very well-done interview and I thank Rediff for putting up such good pieces.

rangasayee: ushasayee@hotmail.com: Ranjit Fernando has hit the nail on the head when he said that the media in the subcontinent has a very negative approach to the teams. Our guys always give 100% on the field. The Asian Teams play the game with a passion that the others are incapable of matching. The media loves to play truant later but does not believe in its responsibilities before the event. The media should back up the players too. Otherwise how else can explain a batsman of Aravinda Desilva's calibre feeling down.

Babu Mauze: goi1000@hotmail.com: Ranjit makes an insightful point about the Indian Press. Prem, please make a note. You guys really know how to rub it into a player. Take a leaf out of the Australian media and pump up the team.

Prashanth.R: rahulfans@hotmail.com: What Rot! Sri Lanka has as much chance of "defending" the World Cup as Inzamam can do the 100mt dash in 10 seconds! Anyway, I don't understand why everyone's discounting England. I mean, hey, they're playing in THEIR OWN conditions, and they aren't such a bad one day team. Remember how they toshed our behinds at Sharjah?? Forget Sri Lanka. Even India, without some inspirational, radical leadership, won't get very far. True, we've got Rahul, Sachin, Sourav, Agarkar, Srinath, Prasad...but it just won't do when your captain can't get his back on the bat and hold the team together. Anyway, back to this article, I find it strange that the Lankans treat their coaches and therapists as commodities. "Good Value for Money" indeed!! If it weren't for their coaches, Sri Lanka would've eaten humble pie. Hey, that's it, I guess. Check out The Rahul Dravid Internet Presence (http://dravid.cjb.net) sometime. Seeya!

Vivek Kedia: vivekkedia@hotmail.com: give the average of all the batsmen in indian team against different countries especially of Azhar's against Pakistan n analyse his inability to play against Pakis

Sudharsan G: gsudu@hotmail.com: Ranjit Fernando seems to have got this idea right. It was a good article.

Sameer Parasnis: samparas@rocketmail.com: Hi,I agree with Ranjit at the point he has made about the media in the sub-continent.The media here really needs to back up their teams.However, we(our media) has the bad habit of making a hype of things( e.g. Jadeja has won just a single match,the media is commending him. But i would like to see their opinion after Jadeja loses 2 or 3 matches consecutively...) The media needs to back up Azhar,he has all the experience and talent to lead Indian side.There will be much less pressure on him,if he gets support from his own people.Thanks.

raj.varrier: rvarrier@hotmail.com: To a certain extent I agree with Ranjit. Age and Injuries are bogging down the World cup Champions. And excess cricket is not helping anyway. I think the amount of cricket that has been played by the subcontinent teams is way too much, the asian test championship, followed by the triangular series, followed by the sharjah, not to mention the games before the test series. I donot quite agree with his views about the media in the sub continent. I think the media is doing a fairly good job, they donot hesitate to praise good performances and also to criticise the poor ones, which is the way it should be.

Murali: muralit27@hotmail.com: Ranjit is right in most ways but his views on the media are not right. The media is there to write and comment and no two opinions are gonnna be the same. The media's attack on Azhar is fully justified. Azhar really does not fit well into the scheme of things as far as India's world cup campaign goes. Jadeja seems to be shouldering the responsibility fairly well...It is high time the selectors took a harsh decision and got rid of Azhar.Khurasia should be blooded to fill the void.

abcd: abcd@amerrica.com: i think Ranjit Fernando is dreaming ask him to wake up he says srilanka has a good chance to defend the title .i think he is right they can defend the tile of chuckers and cheaters

Huzefa Tinwala: huztin@hotmail.com: I think I agree Ranjit Fernando on what he has to say about the media being unsupportive of the players. The Indian media should not be harming the morale of the team if not doing any good either, their comments need to be more subtle.

Das: reply_das@yahoo.com: This was a pretty good interview. I especially liked Mr. Fernando's comment about the media's role in backing & firing up the players. It would be interesting to study the media reactions in SA & Aus after their defeats ... let's check Aus after they finish the WI rubber! But I have to disagree with his comment about Aravinda's motivation. I feel he is still really motivated & is probably just waiting for the right stage - The World Cup!

John: ptjohn@hotmail.com: I like the articles that appears in this section. good work keep it up.

Pranav Gandhi: pranav_gandhi@yahoo.com: I think Ranjit Fernando's comments on how the media should support its players is very important. He mentioned how the South African media supported Hansie Cronje during his batting slump. I think the Indian media should support Azhar and not make him fell so insecure just six weeks from the World Cup. We all know what level of class Azhar can display

abc: abc@hotmail.com: ranjit f is a fool if he thinks lnka can defend the title it was a fluke that the won the last world cup they qualifiedbecause of default victories and won bcuz of the throwing of mutthai and dharmasena but this timethey are going to lose to kenya and zimbabwe also it is better for lanka to play only in subcontinent

sudharsanam: skrish1@uic.edu: I should give credit to the interviewer for having exacted a candid interview for sri lanka's manager. One interesting point was what a positive feedback from media could do to the spirit of Indian team-the captain particular.



Radhika Mishra: radhikamishra@hotmail.com: The interview was good and made interesting reading.The readers I am sure like to read more interviews of ex-criceters like Fernando

rajesh padmanabhan: rpadmanaban@hotmail.com: it is really strange that ranjit has marked aravinda as one who plays for records. he's really a team player and everybody reckons it. ofcourse, he is not in the best of his form but that doesn't really mean that he is not playing for the team.

Anantharam Subramanian: anantharam.subramanian@indsys.ge.com: Ranjit Fernando is correct in putting forth the view how the media is playing spoil sport in many cases.

Vijay Kapre: kapre@vsnl.com: I think Fernando is wrong about Azar. Azar has had his day, and it is time he quit, before people start asking when and not why. The selectors should present the captaincy to Sachin without further ado.

pradeep sharma: pradeep@allsoft.org: U guys just waste ur time by interviewing someone like ranjit regards, pradeep

SRT: f@f.com: Pakistan and England winning the WC99, what Ferando thinking? He just missed out a couple of other I would say reasonable teams: Aus, India, and South Africa. Jesus!!.......



venkat: venkatra@engr.sc.edu: Very right regarding indian media always finding fault with cricketers. indian media screwed tendul by over estimating him(captaincy credentials) and making him a captain.Now it blames azhar for every loss and failure. Why don't they give a fact profile of talented youngsters, their records in domestic cricket, their interviews. Ramesh was interviewed only after making his debut and becoming popular. Indian media is materialistic and does not do any service to indian cricket. Why don't they telecast domestic cricket and make it popular. Can indian media claim of identifying a single star so far? It blames selectors for everything.

Arti Kini: artikini@hotmail.com: Quite an interesting piece. I especially liked the comments made about the two former coaches of the SL team, as well as the point about the Aussie and SA media downplaying the big losses in India. Indeed the role of foreign coaches in made out to be larger than it possibly really is. Further, I think the media is also responsible to be fair and not just react like the lay public.

suhail: suhail@satyam.net.in: it its a frank interview.but i think this lankan team in not equipped with good enough bowlers to win them the cup in england.also their slam bang batting might not fire in england.lets see.i feel new zealand and england have a good chance

AS: Funny_indian@yahoo.com: this is a good idea... the interview is interesting, but Faisal should concentrate more on the oncoming world cup.

seb: sebastian@osool.com: i think ranjit has a very valid point when he says that the media need to back the team to the hilt, especially the captain - there comes a time when emotional feelings must take a backseat in the larger, longer-term interest of the home team's performances. these are some lessons we need to learn from the South Africans and Australians. After all cricket is in many ways more a mind-game than anything else - where player confidence and team spirit, more often than not, are the main contributors to consistent victories, rather than talented individual performances.

sa: sarora21@fcmail.com: nowhere does fernando sy that arvinda has lost his motivation for te game. please do not dramatise the headlines

Arjun Swarup: arjunswarup@hotmail.com: Arjuna Ranatunga personal motivation played a major role in the 96 World Cup. He now seems to be lacking that fire which is so essential in a leader and that will tell on the Sri Lankan team. Sri Lanka needs a fresh fired up person at the helm

JAYAKUMAR JANAKIRAMAN: jaykumarj89@hotmail.com: Ranjit seems to protect his team well, it is true that the media in the subcontinent is after the blood based on results. If the number of One days comes down the quality will improve. There is no excitement among the crowds now,it is like 'ok just another tournament" sort of attitude. As for the acadamies, some great bowlers like Kapil Dev in the Sub Continent can be invited to give tips and a week of coaching camps.Even the University teams can be send once abroad that is INDIA or Pak to get the feel

Deepak Shikarpur: dshikarpur@telco.co.in: Very Good Article. Describes Srilanka's problems & suggested actions. Best of Luck Rediff. No wonder Rediff is the Best Site about India Regards, Deepak Shikarpur, Chairman, Computer Society Of India, Pune.

Suji: sujikaruna@hotmail.com: Prem panicker has not played any game at any level

Koustubh Warty: koustubh_no1@hotmail.com: I think Ranjit Fernando has spoken a bit more openly about Aravinda Dsilva. It is not correct on his part to speak about such a Senior player that he is simply playing for the records. This is even more wrong when he is he manager of the SL team.

Rajesh: kadikar@hotmail.com: A good article.Ranjit has made a couple of good points which I think the Indian think tank can use.

vinod nair: vinair18@hotmail.com: ya ask this man not to bet on pakistan but on south africa and england other wise ur site is good

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