Arjuna Ranatunga has never been one to soften his words, and ahead of the India-Sri Lanka Test series in August, the 1996 World Cup-winning captain gave a frank assessment of where the game is headed and who is to blame.

“T20 cricket has, in many ways, killed the talent and skills of players across the region — India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, everyone,” Ranatunga said.

“Today it’s all about power-hitting because that’s what people want.”

The result, he argues, is a generation without the technique to survive the red ball. He no longer sees batters of the calibre of Sunil Gavaskar, Gundappa Vishwanath, Sachin Tendulkar or Mohammad Azharuddin, and is not convinced today’s stars will mentor the next generation the way their seniors once mentored him.

Technique and commitment, he says, are the real casualties of the franchise era: players once turned up with broken fingers for their country, but now sit out with niggles while grinding through pain for club contracts.

He rates the current Sri Lankan crop as more talented than his own 1996 side, with one exception: “Nobody comes close to Aravinda [de Silva]. He was the greatest talent Sri Lanka has produced.”

On India’s current side without Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, Ranatunga was characteristically blunt — he’d back his old bowling attack to dismiss them twice over. Asked about teenage sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ranatunga turned protective rather than critical. “Most importantly, let him be a child. He’s still a kid”.