Far from winning by 64 runs… Pakistan kept on losing, now both the semi-finals will be held in India.

Pakistan’s bag is tied with ICC T20 World Cup 2026. Sri Lanka has shown the Pakistani team the way out of the tournament. New Zealand team has reached the semi-finals. Pakistan needed to win by 64 runs in its last Super-8 match against Sri Lanka but could win by only 5 runs. Kiwi team entered the last-4 on the basis of better net run rate. Pakistan, when invited to bat first, made a big score of 212/8 at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium but could not restrict Sri Lanka to 147 runs.

Sri Lanka, showing amazing courage, not only booked his return ticket but at one time was also in a position to win. The host team recovered from a bad start and crossed the mark of 147 runs to knock Pakistan out of the tournament and then stunned Pakistan with the explosive batting of captain Dasun Shanaka.

Sri Lanka had to score 28 runs in the last over. Shanaka turned the tables by hitting a four and then a hat-trick of sixes on the first ball of Shaheen Shah Afridi. Now Sri Lanka needed 6 runs from 2 balls. The Pakistani team, which entered the match with dreams of a big victory, seemed to be losing. However, Shaheen did not allow Shanaka to score any runs on the last two balls, which saved some respect for him and the Pakistan team.

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Ratnayake hit fifty

Sahibzada Farhan and Fakhar Zaman gave a good start to Pakistan by making a partnership of 176 runs in 15.5 overs but Sri Lanka made a good comeback in the death overs. Sri Lanka allowed Pakistan to score only 35 runs in the last 4 overs and took 7 wickets. Farhan played an inning of 100 runs in 60 balls. Whereas Fakhar scored 84 runs in 42 balls. In the run chase, Sri Lanka lost 5 wickets for 101 runs. It seemed that Pakistan would restrict them below 147 but Pawan Ratnayake and Shanaka ruined the hopes of the Pakistani team.

Ratnayake and Shanaka batted brilliantly and eliminated Pakistan from the race for the semi-finals. Ratnayake scored 58 runs in 37 balls, which included 4 fours and 3 sixes. After his dismissal, Shanaka adopted a fierce form and almost took Sri Lanka to the threshold of victory but he could not cross the finishing line. He scored unbeaten 76 runs in 31 balls with the help of 2 fours and 8 sixes.

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Both semi-finals will be held in India

As soon as Pakistan’s bags are packed, both the semi-final matches will be held in India. The first semi-final will be played at the Eden Gardens Stadium in Kolkata, while the second semi-final will be played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. If Pakistan had reached the last-4, the first semi-final would have been played in Colombo.