Former Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga pays respect to Shane Warne ahead of Galle Test

Former Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga has always been a tenacious character against the mighty Australians in the 90s. Fans will remember his on-field antics against the Aussies. In addition, Ranatunga held critical views on the late Shane Warne during his playing days.

However, Ranatunga and other Sri Lankan players paid tribute to the great Warne, who passed away in March 2022, before the match between Sri Lanka and Australia at Galle.

Ranatunga recalled his first sighting of Warne in Australian colours during his 1992 tour Down Under.

According to WAtoday, he said, "When we saw him for the first time [in 1992] we knew he was a great in the making. Inside the ground he is a tough nut – we had our mouthfuls to say to each other, but I respected him a lot and he respected me a lot. That's how the game goes."

The former World Cup-winning captain has often rated fellow countryman Muttiah Muralitharan over Warne, who struggled in Asia initially but evolved by playing more cricket in the subcontinent.

The cricket-turned-politician added that the Sri Lankans would always look to play aggressively against Warne, who claimed 46 Tests wickets on Lankan soil between 1992 and 2004.

"We knew that if we were defensive, we would get into a bit of a mess. So the tactic we had was to try to attack him. Most of the time we had been successful but some days we had bad days. Especially in the initial stages we felt that he was not very comfortable when someone attacks him," he states.

He praised the second-highest wicket-taker in Tests for his ability to come back stronger and better during the second half of this career.

"But when it came to the latter part, I played against him just before I retired, and he was a different bowler. Every time you hit him, we knew it wasn't the same old Shane Warne of 10 years back, he knew how to handle it," the 58-year-old concluded.

The mercurial batter holds a healthy average of 42.06 against Australia from 12 Tests, scoring 673 runs, out of which 324 have come in Australian conditions.