SL vs NZ: Sri Lanka out of the race for semi-finals, New Zealand defeated by 61 runs in Super-8

By Samira Vishwas On Feb 26, 2026

New Delhi : In the Super-8 stage of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, a decisive clash was seen between New Zealand and Sri Lanka on the grounds of Colombo. The Kiwi team showed excellent performance in every department and defeated Sri Lanka by a huge margin of 61 runs. This historic victory has placed New Zealand firmly in the race for the semi-finals, while for Sri Lanka the World Cup journey on home ground ended here. New Zealand, who came to bat after losing the toss, had set a challenging score.

Glenn Phillips and Rachin Ravindra handled the innings

The start of the match was not good for New Zealand and Finn Allen was out for only 30 runs. Soon Tim Seifert also left, due to which the team came under pressure. After this Glenn Phillips and Rachin Ravindra took over the innings. Sri Lankan bowler Mahesh Tikshana increased the problems of the Kiwi team by dismissing Rachin and Chapman in the middle overs. However, the aggressive batting of Cole McConchie and Mitchell Santner in the last overs took the team’s total score to 168 runs.

New Zealand rise to the occasion in Colombo to keep their #T20WorldCup 2026 semi-final hopes alive motiv
📝: pic.twitter.com/cUmI1Uca22
— ICC (@ICC) February 25, 2026

Sri Lankan batting collapsing like a house of cards..

The start of the Sri Lankan team, which came to chase the target of 169 runs, was no less than a nightmare. On the very first ball of the innings, opener Pathum Nissanka was clean bowled without opening the account. After this initial shock, the Sri Lankan batsmen could not recover and wickets kept falling at regular intervals. Kamindu Mendis struggled alone by scoring maximum 31 runs, but he did not get any support from the other end. The entire team could score only 107 runs after losing 8 wickets in 20 overs.

Rachin Ravindra’s spin magic

The real hero of the match proved to be Rachin Ravindra, who first added 32 runs with the bat and then created havoc with the ball. Ravindra destroyed Sri Lanka’s middle order with his clever spin bowling and took 4 important wickets. His lethal spell completely turned the match towards New Zealand. Apart from Rachin, fast bowler Matt Henry took two wickets, while captain Mitchell Santner and Glenn Phillips took one wicket each.

Sri Lanka out of the race for semi-finals

The points table of Group 2 is now at an interesting juncture. England has already reached the semi-finals with two wins. Now there is a direct competition between New Zealand and Pakistan for the second place. New Zealand is at second position with 3 points, while Pakistan has only one point in its account. If New Zealand wins its next match, it will qualify. However, in case of their defeat and Pakistan’s victory, the decision will be taken on the basis of net run rate.

New Zealand won 17 times and Sri Lanka 11 times

The history of T20 cricket between New Zealand and Sri Lanka has been very old and conflict-filled. So far, a total of 29 international T20 matches have been played between the two countries, in which New Zealand has tasted victory 17 times and Sri Lanka 11 times. Talking about the history of T20 World Cup, Sri Lanka has had the upper hand, where it has won 4 out of 7 matches. However, this latest victory in Colombo has skyrocketed the confidence of the Kiwi team.