The 42nd match of T20 World Cup 2026 was played between England and Sri Lanka on Sunday. In this match played at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, England registered a big victory by 51 runs. With this victory, England has reached the top of the points table of Group-2 of Super-8 round. This was the second match of this group.
The first match of this group was to be played between Pakistan and New Zealand, which was canceled without a single ball being played due to rain. After this both the teams were given one point each. Now every match is do or die for Sri Lanka to make it to the semi-finals.
Also read: Dhoni will play in IPL 2026, is this news good or bad for CSK fans?
England’s innings
Sri Lanka won the toss and decided to bowl first. Batting first, England had a slow start. In the first 12 overs, the team lost 4 wickets for 83 runs. Then in the remaining 8 overs the English team scored 63 runs after losing 5 wickets. As a result, England scored 146 runs losing 9 wickets in 20 overs.
For England, Phil Salt scored the highest score of 62 runs, while Will Jacques scored 21 runs. Whereas, Dunit Vellalej took three wickets for Sri Lanka. Dilshan Madushanka and Mahish Tikshina took two wickets each, while Dushmantha Chameera took one wicket.
Also read: Why is Tilak Verma playing slow in T20 World Cup? Surya revealed
sri lanka innings
Chasing this small target, Sri Lanka had a bad start. Half the team was out in the powerplay itself. The team scored 69 runs at the loss of 7 wickets in the first 12 overs. After this, the team could not play the remaining 8 overs and could score only 26 runs at the loss of 3 wickets in the remaining 5 overs. As a result, Sri Lanka was all out for 95 runs in 16.4 overs and England won the match by 51 runs.
Captain Dasun Shanaka scored the highest 30 runs for Sri Lanka. No other player could cross the score of 15 runs. Whereas Will Jacques took three wickets for England. Jofra Archer, Liam Dawson and Adil Rashid took two wickets each, while Jamie Overton took one wicket.
Also read: ‘Marriage at a young age…’ Cricketer Rahul Chahar’s divorce, expressed pain on social media
Sri Lanka semi-final qualification scenario
The situation of Super-8 Group-2 in T20 World Cup 2026 has become interesting after the 42nd match. England have 2 points, while New Zealand and Pakistan have 1 point each. Sri Lanka cricket team currently has 0 points. Now it has two matches left, first against New Zealand and second against Pakistan. To remain in the race for the semi-finals, Sri Lanka will have to perform strongly in its next matches.
The easiest way is if Sri Lanka wins both the matches, then with 4 points the place in top-2 can be almost assured and if the run rate is good then it can also become number-1. If there is only one win then qualification on 2 points will depend on the results and runrate of other matches. If both the matches are lost, the hopes of the semi-finals will end.
Comments are closed.