Indications are that Sri Lanka will head into the T20 World Cup without Kusal Janith Perera and that decision may well draw the curtains on his international career. KJP turns 36 in August and if he chooses to walk off into the sunset soon, few will be shocked.

But is this really the right call? The selectors, the only voices that matter, clearly think so. A sizeable chunk of the public, however, remains unconvinced.

At his best, KJP is as clean a striker as you’ll find, a batsman who clears the front leg and goes over the top rather than nudging for singles. That high-octane approach comes with baggage: live by the sword, die by it. Low scores arrive more often than he’d like. Yet the flip side is priceless, he can win games single-handedly. Only last year he smashed a T20I hundred in New Zealand, a feat achieved by just three other Sri Lankans. That alone puts him in rare air.

Yes, the runs dried up after that purple patch. But when the pressure cooker is on and the margins are razor thin, players with big-match temperament are worth their weight in gold.

What makes the decision harder to swallow is the replacement. If KJP had been swapped for a bottom-hand heavy batter built for the death overs, the logic might hold. Instead, he has made way for a top-hand operator in Dhananjaya de Silva, a square peg for a round hole in the shortest format.

Sri Lanka, uniquely, seem determined to juggle three captains across formats and then squeeze all three into the T20 side. That thinking, to put it mildly, is flawed. Balance goes out the window, roles blur and the team ends up batting with the handbrake half on.

The bigger question is timing. Why press the panic button with the World Cup at the doorstep? This Dhananjaya de Silva experiment has been tried before and found wanting. Reheating yesterday’s leftovers on the game’s biggest stage feels like tempting fate.

Little wonder Sri Lanka have become a laughing stock. Cast your mind back to the 2019 World Cup, when England captain Eoin Morgan delivered a barb that still stings. Asked if Jofra Archer was the tournament’s surprise package, Morgan replied, “I think Sri Lanka are the surprise package.”

“I’ve been playing international cricket for over a decade,” he added, “and I’ve never come across some of these guys.”History, it seems, is in danger of repeating itself.

by Rex Clementine ✍️

Gauttami Naiks’s  73 and a combined effort from their bowlers powered Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) to a comprehensive win against Gujarat Giants  sealing their playoffs spot in WPL 2026. RCB maintained their perfect record in the tournament, winning five games in a row to become only the second team after the Mumbai Indians in 2023 to achieve this feat; they also posted their biggest win by runs (61) in the tournament.

Playing the first match of the season at the Kotambi Stadium ing Vadodara, RCB recovered from 9 for 2 to post 178 for 6 thanks to Naik’s half-century and handy contributions from Richa Ghosh and  Radha Yadav. In return, Giants could only make 117 for 8, losing their second match in a row to RCB.

On Sunday, Afghanistan beat West Indies  at the Under-19 World Cup in Windhoek. On Monday, the senior side followed suit, producing a similarly clinical performance against West Indies ahead of the T20 World Cup next month.

On a Dubai pitch that assisted the slower bowlers, Ibrahim Zadran’s unbeaten 87 off 56 balls and Darwish Rasooli’s  84 powered Afghanistan to an imposing 181 for 3. Zadran revealed at the innings break that the total was around 20 runs more than what the team had targeted after the powerplay.

The score proved more than sufficient as West Indies struggled for timing against Afghanistan’s spin attack. Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmad shared six wickets between them, squeezing the chase and ensuring a comfortable 38-run victory.

Afghanistan found themselves in early trouble after losing two wickets in quick succession. Rahmanullah Gurbaz was run out off the first ball, beaten by Gukesh Motie’s direct hit as he fell short of his ground at the non-striker’s end. Sediqullah Atal departed soon after, punching a short ball straight to Brandon King, who pulled off a superb one-handed catch at first slip.

When Rasooli joined Zadran, Afghanistan were 19 for 2. The pair, however, settled quickly and went blow for blow through the middle overs. Zadran brought up his fourth consecutive T20I half-century, scoring largely with a straight bat to anything full and on the stumps, and using the pace on the ball to swing cleanly through the line.