Late Maharaja’s Group Chairman Killi Rajamahendran was a big cricket fan and served Sri Lanka Cricket as Vice-President in 1980s. He was Board President Gamini Dissanayake’s go to man. Not only did the company employ every cricketer from Duleep Mendis to Arjuna Ranatunga, the game too was funded heavily by them enabling SLC to hire legends like Sir Garry Sobers to coach the team.
In 1990s when the company launched its television channel, local cricket fans were in for a treat as the channel telecast cricket series from Australia, England and South Africa. Later Sirasa acquired telecast rights of most of the Sri Lankan series. However, a decade and half ago a rule was brought in to say that only state-owned channels can telecast cricket series and that drove Sirasa out of the equation. Leading up to this World Cup, there were doubts whether free to air television would show the games at all due to the USD crisis, but Sirasa has overcome those challenges and will show all games of the competition that gets underway on Sunday in Geelong. This will bring smiles in the faces of millions of fans who cannot afford pay tv.
One of the issues fans have encountered during ICC events is that television companies cash in with advertisement coming their way and very rarely all six deliveries of an over are shown. Sirasa officials claimed that during the bidding process, the International Cricket Council (ICC) insisted on viewers’ comfort and will be monitoring telecast. Sirasa ensured that there will be no interruption for fans entertainment.