With international rugby taking center stage in Sri Lanka, Maliban Biscuits continues to play a pivotal role in advancing the sport, coming on board as the title sponsor of the New Zealand U85kg Rugby Tour 2026, the Official Premium Partner of the New Zealand U85kg team and the Main Sponsor of Sri Lanka Rugby.

This multi-tier partnership reflects the brand’s deep and ongoing commitment to growing rugby in Sri Lanka while supporting meaningful international sporting exchange.

As one of Sri Lanka’s most trusted household brands with a legacy spanning over 70 years, Maliban’s continued involvement with the touring side-marking the second consecutive partnership that highlights its sustained investment in sporting platforms that inspire young athletes and elevate the standard of the game locally.

The tour will feature key matches at the Colombo Racecourse Grounds on 25 April and at Nittawela Grounds on 3 May, promising high-quality rugby action for fans across the island. Beyond the competition itself, the New Zealand side will also engage in community outreach initiatives, contributing to the development of the game and encouraging greater youth participation in sport.

When Gary Kirsten fronted the media for the first time as Sri Lanka’s head coach, he didn’t pad up with clichés. He went straight on the front foot, making it clear that the 2027 World Cup in his own backyard is the big ticket item.

This was no airy-fairy lip service. Kirsten, as methodical during his playing days, mapped out the kind of personnel required for South African conditions, quicks who can make the ball talk and climb awkwardly off a length, batters who won’t flinch when the ball spits at chest height. In short, horses for courses, not square pegs in round holes.

That’s vintage Kirsten. Whether with India or his native South Africa, he has built success brick by brick, not by rolling the dice. His coaching mantra could well be: well prepared is half the battle won.

Sri Lanka have 17 months and roughly 25 ODIs to get their house in order. That’s enough time to build a core, provided they don’t keep shuffling the team like a pack of cards. More importantly, the bowling template needs a rethink. For far too long, Sri Lanka have leaned on spin. But South Africa is no place for gentle tweakers, it’s a quicks’ paradise where seamers earn their bread.

Even at home, where the slow tracks of RPS traditionally favour spin-heavy combinations, there’s a case to start backing seam-bowling all-rounders. It may seem like swimming against the tide, but World Cups aren’t won by playing safe in familiar waters.

The last time South Africa hosted the World Cup was back in 2003, a different era altogether. Nelson Mandela was still a towering presence, while across the border, dictator Robert Mugabe ruled Zimbabwe with an iron fist. Kenya, then more than just makeweights, punched above their weight to reach the semi-finals, a fairy tale that now feels like ancient folklore.

Fast forward to today and Kenyan cricket has fallen off a cliff, replaced in the hosting roster by Namibia.

Sri Lanka have a template from that 2003 campaign, one worth dusting off. They made the semi-finals then, and not by accident. It was a well-oiled machine, driven by sharp minds and strong leadership.

At the helm was Hemaka Amarasuriya, a corporate heavyweight who handled off-field storms like a seasoned captain riding out a bouncer barrage. When the ICC’s ambush marketing clause triggered a global player revolt, with Indian stars leading the charge, Sri Lanka’s dressing room too got restless, nudged by Charlie Austin. But Amarasuriya, unfazed, played it late and under the eyes, guiding matters through choppy waters until contracts were signed.

Selection, meanwhile, was in the safe hands of Guy de Alwis, a man who didn’t blink, even when the heat was turned up. When then Sports Minister Johnston Fernando tried to poke his nose into team affairs, Guy de Alwis stood his ground like a batter refusing to be sledged into submission. No excuses, no conspiracy theories that we see these days from selectors, just accountability. A trait that seems to have gone missing these days.

On the coaching front, Dav Whatmore and Duleep Mendis plotted their moves with chess-like precision, while team manager Ajit Jayasekara ensured discipline didn’t slip through the cracks. A senior Air Force officer, Jayasekara was a god fearing man and a gentle soul off the field, but one who could lay down the law when egos within the dressing room threatened to run riot.

Then there was Sanath Jayasuriya, the captain who led from the front, scoring runs for fun and brooking no nonsense. Legend has it he gave his deputy Marvan Atapattu the cold shoulder for a fortnight after a dropped catch off Brian Lara.

Add to that the wizardry of Aravinda de Silva and the raw pace of Dilhara Fernando, whose bouncer famously floored Ramnaresh Sarwan. It was a side that could dish it out as well as take it, a rarity in those days.

Sri Lanka’s semi-final exit in 2003 still stings. They had Australia on the ropes at Port Elizabeth, restricting them to 212, but fluffed the chase despite batting deep. A missed opportunity, no doubt, but the campaign proved one thing beyond doubt: Sri Lanka could hold their own on seaming, bouncy tracks.

Kirsten would do well to note that Whatmore had a strong support cast, men who knew their roles and didn’t drop the ball. The current set-up, by contrast, doesn’t inspire the same confidence.

Still, hope springs eternal. The South African dream isn’t a pie in the sky just yet. After all, Sri Lanka remain the only Asian side to have conquered South Africa in a Test series, proof that when they get their act together, they can punch above their weight.

by Rex Clementine

An exhibition of clean hitting by Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal ensured Sai Sudarshan’s measured 100 off 58 balls ended in a losing cause as Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) beat Gujarat Titans (GT) by five wickets at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.

After winning the toss, RCB captain Rajat Patidar had no hesitation in putting GT in. Sudharsan laid a strong foundation on a pitch he described as “two-paced and sticky to start with”. But even when the surface became easier to bat on, GT could not get into overdrive. They scored only 35 in the last four overs and finished on 205 for 3.

In response, Kohli, who was dropped on zero, smashed 81 off 44 balls and Padikkal blasted 55 off just 27. They put on 115 in 9.5 overs for the second wicket, and despite a bit of wobble towards the end, RCB romped home with seven balls to spare.

The GT openers prefer to take as few risks as possible and it was no different on Friday. Sudharsan was circumspect at the start and was on 17 off 16 after three overs. But he found his timing after that and moved to 41 off 27 by the end of the fifth. Gill had faced just three balls till then. GT finished the powerplay on 57 for no loss.

Sudharsan went inventive after the powerplay, scooping Romario Shepherd for a six. When Krunal Pandya bowled a bouncer, he uppercut him over deep third. Later in the over, he slog-swept the spinner for another six, reaching 2000 runs in the IPL. Taking 47 innings, he was the fastest to get there, bettering Chris Gayle’s record by one.

He and Gill added 128 in 12.4 overs, with Gill contributing 32 off 24 balls. The GT captain was starved of strike throughout his stay and holed out to long-on off Suyash Sharma. Sudharsan brought up his hundred off 57 balls, the slowest of the six so far this season. There was no cutting loose after reaching the milestone either. He was out on the very next ball he faced.

GT were 170 for 2 after 16 overs but Suyash, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Hazlewood gave away only 17 in the next three. At 187 for 3, Rasikh Salam ran in to bowl the final over but he stopped even before he could bowl a delivery. It looked like cramps and despite the physio working on him, he had to walk off the field. Krunal replaced him and was hit for a six by Jason Holder off the first ball. After another ball, Krunal too pulled out of his delivery stride holding his groin. But after a bit of medical attention, he completed the over, but ended up leaking 18 runs.

With Phil Salt injured, Jacob Bethell finally got a chance to play this season. Opening the innings after coming in as Impact Player, he had a close shave in the second over. He got an inside edge to a length ball from Kagiso Rabada but it missed the stumps and beat Buttler for four. In the next over, he shuffled across and hit Mohammed Siraj for a four on either side of the wicket. But when he tried the same trick later in the over, he hit it straight to the backward point. He made 14 off ten.

Kohli was dropped off the first ball he faced. It was a length delivery from Siraj that he flicked uppishly towards short midwicket but Washington Sundar grassed a regulation chance. Kohli made his intentions clear in the following over when he hit Rabada over mid-on for a four.

Padikkal was even more ruthless. He opened his account with a first-ball six, picking up a 153.6kph length ball from Rabada over square leg. The GT bowlers didn’t help themselves by bowling onto his pads, and he kept flicking them fine for boundaries.

Rashid Khan wasn’t spared either. He dropped one short to Kohli and the batter duly pulled it over deep midwicket for a six before cutting the following delivery for four. In the spinner’s second over, Padikkal hit him for two sixes, the second one taking him to his fifty off just 20 balls. It made Kohli’s 30-ball fifty look pedestrian.

Rashid bowled Padikkal with a googly from around the wicket, and Kohli played Holder on but not before hitting the allrounder for back-to-back sixes.

Rajat Patidar and Jitesh Sharma kept the attack going. They hit a six each off Rashid but fell in quick succession. Suddenly, RCB were five down with 31 required from four overs. Krunal, though, bashed Manav Suthar for two fours and a six in the 18th over, bringing the equation down to seven needed from 12. In the penultimate over, he swatted Holder through midwicket for four before wrapping up the game with a gentle pull to fine leg.

Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru 206 for 5 in 18.5 overs (Jacob Bethell 14, Virat Kohli 81, Devdutt Padikkal 55, Jitesh Sharma 10, Tim David 10*, Krunal Pandya 23*; Mohammed Siraj 1-25, Jason Holder 1-35, Rashid Khan 2-49, Manav  Suther 1-19) beat Gujarat Titans 205 for 3 in 20 overs (Sai Sudharsan 100, Shubman Gill 32, Jos Buttler 25, Washington Sundar 19*,Jason Holder 23*; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 1-31, Josh Hazelwood 40, Suyash Sharma 1-36) by five wickets

[Cricinfo]