Sri Lanka Cricket’s chief Arjuna Ranatunga is presented with an enviable task. The task is to make his players realise that playing for the country should take precedence over all else. But as we see it, at the moment, he’s fighting a losing battle.

History will remember this phase of Sri Lankan cricket, as it’s the darkest moment as money has taken precedence over honouring your commitments to the country. It’s no exaggeration to suggest that this episode, where the national cricketers have chosen to honour their IPL contracts instead of their national duty, will sit on equal terms with Bandula Warnapura’s Rebel Tour to the apartheid South Africa in 1982.

The irony is, Warnapura’s rebels were treated like ‘pariahs’ and were promptly banned for 25 years whereas Mahela Jayawardene’s men are called national heroes, who according to the country’s political turncoats turned top government ministers, bring in massive revenues for coffers of the Sri Lankan board and therefore, all actions by the incorrigible child should be tolerated and even appreciated.

Ranatunga must be gutted that he’s made to look like a puppet as it’s the Minister of Sports who takes all vital decisions on behalf of the board, but whereas, the blame, when things go wrong, as it did in Bangkok during the meeting with Lalit Modi, has to be entirely borne by him.

Times have changed so much that politicians holding responsible offices are telling us now that a cricketer’s ‘earning period is limited and during that period, he should be allowed to earn the maximum’.

That brings us back to an interesting point. Was what Warnapura did in 1982 wrong? He did something similar to what Jayawardene is doing today, but the consequence was that he was told to take his money and go home and not to do anything with regard to cricket for two-and-half decades!

So, why is such disparity? The difference is, in the ’80s, we had Gamini Dissanayake, a far-sighted man who tolerated no nonsense and taught the players their priorities and today we have politicians, with no principles, who swap parties to take up ministerial posts.

Minister Gamini Lokuege was quick to cancel the England series and force the cricket board to let the players go and honour their IPL contracts. Not too long ago, Jayawardene, himself was complaining about the lack of opportunity his side got against top oppositions like England and Australia, but the IPL riches have forced him to eat his own words and forgo the two Tests against England.

And what happens next, when Sri Lanka say ‘no’ to the Test Matches in England, the ECB fits in West Indies without any changes to their schedule and the next question you may ask is, don’t the West Indies players too have IPL contracts?

The Commissioner of the Indian Premier League, Lalit Modi, also had allegedly told a high profile Sri Lankan delegation in Bangkok that they should not expect any favours from India as long as Ranatunga heads the Sri Lanka board.

Although the claim has been later denied by the Indian officials, the powerful Indian board must be desperate to see the back of the former Sri Lankan captain, who has been fighting a lone battle to ensure that international cricket and the interests of Sri Lankan cricket should take precedence over all else.

India’s alleged suggestion, of course, must have come as music to the ears of some interested parties in Sri Lanka who have high ambitions of holding office at the cash-rich sports body. And we can guarantee that messages must have already gone to the authorities on the ‘grave concerns facing Sri Lankan cricket’ and the prompt removal of Ranatunga or calling for board elections.

Ranatunga has said that he would step down at any moment the President wants him to do so and he’d be relieved that he’s put out of the misery and will be remembered as the only man who was removed for asking his charges to choose country over money.