Kandy: Former champions Pakistan won the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 by five runs against Sri Lanka in a crucial Super Eight match at the Ballekala International Cricket Stadium on Saturday.
The 2009 champions needed to restrict Sri Lanka to 147 or less, but half-centuries from Pawan Ratnayake and captain Dasun Shanaka helped them amass 207/6 in their 20 overs as New Zealand qualified from Group 2 for a semi-final with England.
Shanaka was Sri Lanka’s top scorer with an unbeaten 76 off 31 balls at the back end, but his efforts fell short as Shaheen Shah Afridi successfully defended 28 in the final over despite conceding three sixes.
The Sri Lankan captain shared a 61-run partnership for the sixth wicket with Ratnayake, who anchored his 58 runs off 37 balls with 4 fours and 3 sixes.
Apart from them, Kamil Mishara and Sarit Asalanga, 26 and 25 respectively, managed to put up double figures against the Pakistan bowling attack, led by Abrar Ahmed who took 3 wickets for 23 runs in his four overs.
Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah and Shaheen took one wicket each to support him.
Sri Lankan captain Dasun Shanaka’s decision to field first backfired as his team’s bowling left a tough target of 212/8 in 20 overs.
Pakistan’s new opening pair of Farhan and Fakhar gave them a brilliant start as they put up a mammoth 176-run partnership that saw both the openers hit half-centuries.
Dushmanda Samira finally broke the menacing partnership by cleaning up Fakker after scoring 84 runs off 42 balls with nine fours and four sixes.
Pakistan suffered another setback to their batting journey in the next over when Dilshan Madushanga caught Khawaja Nafai (two) at long-on and slipped further to 179/2.
Farhan was then run out in the 18th over to put on a brief 21-run partnership for the third wicket with Shadab Khan adding 7 runs off 5 balls.
Captain Shanaka pulled things back for Sri Lanka by ducking out all-rounder Mohammad Nawaz and Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha in the last over to reduce the total to 199/5.
Farhan, on the other hand, fell prey to Madushanga on the first delivery of the last over and returned to Pakistan with a high score of 100 off 60 balls with 9 fours and 5 sixes.
Madhushanka strikes again in a pulsating final over, caught by Shaheen Shah Afridi lbw.
Madhushanka was the best bowler for Sri Lanka with 3 wickets for 33 runs in his four overs, followed by Shanaka with two wickets and Sameera with one wicket.
In terms of underachievement, Pakistan is third in the Group 2 stages of the T20 World Cup 2026 with three points with a negative net run rate of 0.123 in three games, significantly lower than New Zealand’s 1.390, and he finished with as many points.