Twitterati mock Arjuna Ranatunga for his 'don't behave like Indian fans' remark

Courtesy: PTI

New Delhi: Legendary Arjuna Ranatunga became target of angry Indians fans after the former Sri Lankan captain made yet another controversial statement.

On Wednesday, reports surfaced that he had told Lankan cricket fans to 'stop behaving like Indian spectators', claiming Lanka "have a very good history and culture."

The 53-year-old, who is now a minister in the Sri Lanka government, is known for making controversial comments. Last month, he had claimed that the 2011 ICC World Cup final match between India and Sri Lanka was fixed.

Reacting to his comments, Indian fans to Twitter to express their objection. But majority of the reactions border on mocking to jeer:

Being a minister&formerCricketer @ArjunaRanatunga shdnt behave lyk SL'n fans. I cn undrstnd his frustration bt salvation lies in performance — Shubham Kumar (@imshubhamkumar) August 30, 2017

3-0 tests and 3-0 one days @ home - enough said.Hope ur team learns a lesson.Little brother is always a little brother.Say what little bro:) — Proud Indian Hindu (@sappana11) August 30, 2017

@ArjunaRanatunga A man who just have 4 test hundreds in his name (just equal to what our Aswin a batsman Cum bowler has in his name) — Ajay Sharma (@ajay_saraswat18) August 30, 2017

@ArjunaRanatunga I think u should bite the words when u adresseed ur crowd for behaving like indian spectators. — Rajesh Kaushik (@anshjunior) August 30, 2017

Think before you speak. Indian spectators are matured than srilankans @ArjunaRanatunga — harikrishnaa (@harikrishnaa114) August 30, 2017

I strongly condemn your comments on Indian fans,,, @ArjunaRanatunga restrain from provocative words

— Praveen Kumaran (@MrThumbsup) August 30, 2017

By referring to Eden'O'96 you have made cricket poorer @arjunaranatunga — Suresh(idly) (@sureshidly) August 30, 2017

He was referring to Sunday's bottle throwing incident at the end of the third one-day international match between India and Sri Lanka in Pallekele. The unruly behaviour forced the match to stopped for a while. But eventually India hit those required eight runs without much a do to seal the five-match series.

"Such incidents should not be repeated. Sri Lankans love cricket and they feel sad when we lose a match. We have made lots of sacrifices for cricket and those sacrifices had been made while losing lots of things. Every cricketer in our team is mentally depressed,” reports qouted Ranatunga as saying while addressing the media at the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation head office.

Unfortunately, Sunday's incident reminded many of the infamous 1996 World Cup semifinal in Kolkata. Lanka, under Ranatunga, were in complete control of the match in front of a packed Eden Gardens crowd, but some unruly crowds started throwing bottles and burning playcards. India forfeited the match to eventual champions.

“I request our cricket lovers not to behave like Indian spectators. We have a very good history and culture. Such misbehaviour is not accepted in our culture and history,” he had added.

The fourth match of the ODI series will be tomorrow (Thursday) in Colombo.