Is Sri Lanka Eliminated From T20 World Cup: New Zealand has defeated Sri Lanka by 61 runs. With this, Sri Lanka is out of the T20 World Cup 2026, while New Zealand has kept its semi-final hopes intact. In this match played at R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, New Zealand team batted first and scored 168 runs. In reply, the Sri Lankan team could score only 107 runs in the stipulated 20 overs.
Sri Lanka’s dream broken
Sri Lanka’s dream of winning the T20 World Cup at home has been shattered. Along with India, Sri Lanka is also the co-host of this World Cup, but with the defeat at the hands of New Zealand, it is out of the semi-final race and the World Cup as well. Apart from Kamindu Mendis and Dunith Vellage, no other batsman could play a big innings for Sri Lanka.
Ravindra shines after Santner
The New Zealand team, which came to bat first, was also struggling and had lost 6 wickets by the time the score was 84. But Mitchell Santner played a brilliant inning of 47 runs in 26 balls and took his team beyond 160. He made a partnership of 84 runs with Cole McConchie. These 47 runs of Santner contributed significantly in New Zealand’s comeback in the match.
Rachin Ravindra did the rest in bowling. He took 4 wickets giving just 27 runs in 4 overs. He took the wickets of Kusal Mendis, Pawan Ratnayake, captain Dasun Shanak and Dushan Hemanta. Earlier, Ravindra had also contributed 32 runs with the bat.
Sri Lanka suffered a huge blow on the very first ball of the innings. Matt Henry clean bowled Pathum Nissanka on the very first ball. Nissanka was scoring runs in consecutive innings, but Henry was the first to walk him.
