By Rex Clementine

Delivering a moving speech, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa said that along with cricket, humanity triumphed 25 years ago as the national cricket team became World Champions beating Australia by seven wickets in the final in Lahore.

At a function held at Temple Trees to felicitate the members of the World Cup winning squad, PM Rajapaksa drove home some pertinent points. “I remember just before the World Cup, we had to deal with an issue as Australia and West Indies refused to play in Colombo, claming security reasons. It is India and Pakistan that came to our aid, setting aside their differences . We could see South Asian Solidarity 25 years ago.”

“When stones were being thrown at our players during the semi-final in Calcutta against India, one of our young players, Upul Chandana, went up to the captain Arjuna Ranatunga and told him to remove Aravinda de Silva from the boundary rope. Instead, he volunteered to go to the boundary telling the captain that if a stone hit Aravinda he would be hurt and miss the final.”

“When we won the World Cup, our government was in power with Chandrika Kumaratunga as President. I remember, the first thing Arjuna did upon landing in Colombo was to visit the residence of former Minister Gamini Dissanayake, who had been killed by the LTTE. That is to say thank you for his services to cricket. These incidents show that through cricket humanity triumphed. That is a big message  for all of us.”