Minister of Ports and Shipping Arjuna Ranatunga yesterday (18) slammed senior players in Sri Lankan cricket team and said that cricketers must play for the country first, rather than focusing on personal records.

The cricketer turned politician stressed that Cricket Interim Committee did not have a proper plan for Cricket World Cup 2015.

“The number of personal records mean nothing if that cricketer doesn’t love the country. I don’t care about such players personally. But I respect their talent” he told local media.

Ranatunga slammed both the senior players and the selection committee and said both parties did not think about what will become of Sri Lanka Cricket after the retirement of Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and Tillakaratne Dilshan.

“After winning the World Cup in 1996 we gave chance to youngsters to improve themselves by going down in the batting order. Aravinda de Silva and I both did the same. But I didn’t see senior players of the current team doing that,” he told media.

Ranatunga further asserted Angelo Mathews is a good captain and with the retirement of Sangakkara, Jayawardene and Dilshan, he will get a chance to improve himself as a better captain.

“We will lose games in the future but we have to wait and be patient about it,” Ranatunga said adding that Sri Lanka Cricket must plan with the future in mind.

“Sri Lanka Cricket does not need any political influence. At the same time the interim committee must take necessary steps to ensure the mental fitness of players” he said.

“The sudden decision of making Kusal Perera as an opening batsman for the quarter final match was a total failure. It shouldn’t have been done,” Ranatunga added.

When asked about competing for the post of President of Sri Lanka Cricket Ranatunga said that he had not taken a decision at the moment.

“Many people including members of 1996 squad requested me to compete for the post. At the moment I cannot say anything about it. But I hope to come back as the President of SLC in near future.” the minister said.