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.

Sri Lanka vs New Zealand: The Super-8 match between Sri Lanka and New Zealand is being played in Colombo. In this match, Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to bowl first and this decision proved to be correct in the first leg. New Zealand lost the wickets of both its opening batsmen within the first 26 balls. This match is more important for Pakistan than it is for Sri Lanka and New Zealand. Know here whose victory today will benefit Pakistan more.

How will Pakistan benefit?

First of all know the status of the points table. England has already booked the semi-final ticket from the second group of Super-8. There is competition between Pakistan, New Zealand and Sri Lanka for the second semi-final slot. Pakistan and New Zealand have one point each, whereas Sri Lanka has not been able to open its account of points yet.

In fact, whether Sri Lanka or New Zealand wins today, Pakistan will not be out, but its going to the semi-finals will depend on the results of other matches in both the circumstances.

First equation- Today, if Sri Lanka wins over New Zealand, then it will have 2 points while New Zealand will have only one point. In such a situation, Pakistan would not want New Zealand to get a big victory over England on 27th February. If England beats New Zealand then it will be very good for the Pakistan team.

Second equation- If New Zealand beats Sri Lanka today, then perhaps the problems of the Pakistan team will increase significantly. In such a situation, New Zealand will get 3 points and the net run-rate will also be much better than Pakistan. In this situation, the Pakistan team would like England to win over New Zealand at any cost.

Let us also tell you that now only one match is left for Pakistan, which it has to play with Sri Lanka on 28th February.

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An important Super-8 match in the T20 World Cup 2026 is being played between Sri Lanka and New Zealand at R Premadasa in Colombo. Semi-final tickets are at stake for both the teams. At one time Sri Lanka was dominant in the match. New Zealand had lost 6 wickets for 84 runs. But after this, Cole McConchie and captain Mitchell Santner turned the tables by making a partnership of 84 runs in 47 balls for the seventh wicket. New Zealand put 167/7 runs on the board in 20 overs.

McConchie scored 31* runs in 23 balls with the help of 3 fours and 2 sixes. Apart from this, Santner scored 47 runs in 26 balls by hitting 2 fours and 4 sixes. Whereas for Sri Lanka, Mahish Teekshana and Dushmantha Chameera took maximum 3-3 wickets.

4 wickets fell in the span of 9 runs

At one time New Zealand’s score was 2 wickets for 75 runs, but from there the Sri Lankan bowlers wreaked havoc and took 4 wickets in a span of just 9 runs. It seemed that New Zealand would hardly be able to reach 120 runs, but McConchie and Santner destroyed the Sri Lankan bowlers.

New Zealand scored 70 runs in the last 4 overs. At the end of 16 overs, the score of Kiwi team was 98 runs, which reached 168 runs in 20 overs. In this way, New Zealand completely won the game in the last overs.

Sri Lanka won the toss

Let us tell you that in the match, Sri Lanka won the toss and decided to bowl. After 6 wickets fell by the 13th over, it seemed that Sri Lanka had taken the right decision of bowling first. But then the number seven pair did wonders and changed everything.

New Zealand’s first washed out in rain

It is noteworthy that New Zealand’s first match, which was against Pakistan, was washed out due to rain. This is the second match of the Kiwi team in Super-8. New Zealand has only 1 point due to the first match being canceled due to rain. Now it will be interesting to see how the team performs in the second innings against New Zealand.

T20 World Cup 2026: Today’s match in the Super-8 round of T20 World Cup 2026 is going to be very important. This clash between Sri Lanka and New Zealand in Colombo could become the last chance for both the teams to keep their semi-final hopes alive. The path to the semi-finals may be almost closed for the losing team here.

Sri Lanka would like to improve batting

The Sri Lankan team was in trouble on the batting front in the last match. The team’s batsmen were not able to score runs freely in front of spin bowling. In such a situation, there is going to be a big responsibility on the batsmen in today’s match. The team will hope for a good start from a player like Pathum Nissanka.

New Zealand will enter with the intention of winning

On the other hand, New Zealand team was not able to take the field in the last match due to rain. In such a situation, the Kiwi team will enter today with the intention of strengthening its campaign with a win. The team has batsmen who can score fast runs in the powerplay, who can give a good start to the team. And in bowling too, there are spinners who can change the course of the match.

head to head record

Total T20 matches – 28

New Zealand won – 16 matches

Sri Lanka won – 11 matches

Inconclusively – 1 match

New Zealand definitely has the upper hand in head-to-head statistics, but in T20 cricket, it is the current form that matters most. In such a situation, today’s match will be no less than a final for both the teams. The winning team will remain firmly in the race for the semi-finals, while the journey ahead can be very challenging for the losing team.

Probable playing 11 of both the teams

Sri Lanka- Pathum Nissanka, Kamil Mishara, Kusal Mendis (wicketkeeper), Pawan Ratnayake, Dunith Velalage, Kamindu Madis, Dasun Shanaka (captain), Dushan Hemta, Dushmantha Chameera, Mahish Teekshana, Dilshan Madushanka.

New Zealand- Tim Seifert (wicketkeeper), Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, Mitchell Santner (captain), James Neesham, Matt Henry, Ish Sodhi, Lockie Ferguson.