Pallekale: Sri Lanka thrashed Australia by eight wickets in their high-stakes Group B league match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 at the Pallekale International Cricket Stadium on Monday.
Batting first, Australia were bowled out for 181 in 20 overs, aided by a century-plus opening partnership from Travis Head and captain Mitchell Marsh.
Head was Australia’s top scorer with a blistering 56 off 29 balls with 7 fours and 3 sixes, while Marsh scored 54 off 27 balls.
However, the rest of the Australian batsmen got off to a torrid start, with wicketkeeper batsman Josh Inglis (27) and veteran all-rounder Glenn Maxwell (22) managing double figures apart from the openers.
Dushan Hemantha led Sri Lanka’s bowling with 3 for 37 in his four overs, followed by Dushmantha Sameera with two wickets and Mahesh Dikshana, Dunit Vellalake and Kamindu Mendis with one each.
In reply, the home side made light work of chasing the target of 182 runs for the loss of just 2 wickets and 12 balls.
Leading the way for them was right-handed opener Pathum Nisanga, who scored an unbeaten century, scoring 100 off just 52 balls with 10 fours and 5 sixes.
Nissanga was supported by fellow top-order batsman Gusal Mendis, who contributed briskly with a 38-ball 51 with 6 fours and a six. Both added 97 runs for the 2nd wicket.
The eight-wicket victory cemented Sri Lanka’s third place in as many games and cemented their top spot in the Group B standings with one match remaining against Zimbabwe on Thursday.
On the contrary, the result of the recently-concluded tournament had a major impact on Australia’s Super Eight qualification situation as they were third with two points from three matches.
| Teams | Competitions | succeeds | Losses | points | Net flow rate |
| Sri Lanka | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 2.462 |
| Zimbabwe | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 1.984 |
| Australia | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0.414 |
| Ireland | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0.150 |
| Oman | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | -4.546 |
Zimbabwe, on the other hand, are in a strong position to join Sri Lanka to qualify for the next stage as they are second in the Group B standings of the T20 World Cup 2026 with four points from two matches.
As a result, Australia will rely on the outcome of the remaining Group B matches as Sri Lanka need to win their remaining group-stage game against Zimbabwe, barring Ireland to register a narrow win over Chevrons.
If both results go in their favour, Australia will need to beat Oman by a huge margin to overtake Zimbabwe and Ireland in second place on net run rate and qualify for the Super Eight.