This is what a captain is… Kiwi’s innings was disintegrated, then Santner made a mess with his bat.

The 46th match of ICC T20 World Cup 2026 is being played between Sri Lanka and New Zealand. In this match being held at R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, New Zealand has scored 168/7. Captain Mitchell Santner played an important role in taking the Kiwi team to this point. Santner, who came at number seven, scored 47 runs in 26 balls, hitting 2 fours and 4 sixes. His innings came at a time when New Zealand had lost 6 wickets after reaching 84 runs when invited to bat first.

The Kiwi team’s innings seemed to be below 120 but Santner along with Cole McConchie took it to a strong score. There was a partnership of 84 runs in 47 balls between the two for the seventh wicket, which could prove to be the turning point in this match. Maconchi scored unbeaten 31 runs in 23 balls, which included 3 fours and 2 sixes.

Also read: India’s net run rate can improve, these things will have to be done against Zimbabwe

Sri Lanka’s happiness turned into sorrow

Sri Lanka started well with the ball and sent both the opening batsmen of the Kiwi team to the pavilion during the powerplay. Mahish Theekshana caught the aggressive batting Finn Allen (23 in 13 balls) on his own ball. After this, Dushmantha Chameera got Tim Seifert (8 runs in 9 balls) caught by Kamindu Mendis. After two wickets at 34 runs, Rachin Ravindra (32 runs in 22 balls) and Glenn Phillips (18 runs in 18 balls) made a short partnership and rescued New Zealand but when it came to increasing the run rate, they kept walking.

Also read: ‘Winning the World Cup…’ Batting coach told what Team India will have to do now!

Theekshana, Chameera and Dunith Vellalage took the Kiwis from 75/2 to 84/6. That means these three shared 4 wickets among themselves for 11 runs. The Sri Lankan team seemed to be in complete control but the partnership of Santner and McConchie took away the momentum from them. Now if the host team starts chasing the target, it will have a big total in front of it. Keep in mind that the same Sri Lankan team was all out for 95 while chasing the target of 147 runs in the last match against England.