Former New Zealand national cricket captain Martin Crowe praised Arjuna Ranatunga as a representative of the underdog in the latest edition of The Cricket Monthly.

Crowe recalled how he had first spoke to Ranatunga in a Test match in 1984 and commented on both his batting and bowling. Crowe recalled Ranatunga dismissing him at 299, thus depriving him the honour of becoming the first Kiwi to score a triple-ton at a Test match.

However, Crowe praised Ranatunga mainly for taking on the Australians in 1996. “He knew his team and their strengths, and he knew what buttons needed pushing. He saw the Australians as an easy target. He saw how false they could be: loud, lippy banter masking their own fears, often turning into personal abuse when the pressure mounted.”

“He believed the more they resorted to mental disintegration the more they exposed themselves, diverting their attention from their obvious skill and from the job at hand,” Crowe went on to say. The “ultimate insult” was when Ranatunga called Shane Warne “just an average bowler.”

In conclusion, Crowe described the main reasons for his personal admiration of Ranatunga the cricketer. “Mostly I loved the way he stood up to the big boys, the bullies, and bulldozed them back in his unique inspiring way. He represented the underdog,” the former New Zealand captain said.