Sri Lanka Beat Australia T20 World Cup PtiImage Credit source: PTI

T20 World Cup 2026 co-host Sri Lanka has made it to the Super-8 round with a resounding victory. On the basis of opener Pathum Nissanka's explosive century, Sri Lanka defeated Australia by 8 wickets and made it to the next round. Nissanka became the first batsman to score a century in this World Cup and returned to the pavilion after achieving the target of 182 runs in just 18 overs and leading the team to victory. With the second consecutive defeat, former champion Australia was on the verge of being eliminated in the first round itself.

Everyone's eyes were on this match played in Pallekele on the evening of Monday 16th February. Host Sri Lanka was already at the first position in the points table with 2 consecutive wins but this match was important for Australia. Due to the shocking defeat at the hands of Zimbabwe in their last match, Australia needed to win here at any cost, but even the return of captain Mitchell Marsh could not change the fate.

The effect of Marsh's return was definitely visible on Australia's batting. The Australian captain gave an explosive start as soon as he came, which was lacking in the last 2 matches. At the same time, star opener Travis Head, who has been struggling with poor form, also started batting badly. Both the batsmen scored half-centuries in quick succession and made a blazing start of 104 runs in just 8.3 overs. But after the fall of the first wicket, the Australian innings faltered and the team lost 4 wickets in the next 4 overs.

When Josh Inglis and Glenn Maxwell were managing the innings, Nissanka broke the partnership by taking a surprising catch. After this, the Australian team lost the remaining 5 wickets for 21 runs and the entire team collapsed for just 181 runs. For Sri Lanka, spinner Dushan Hemantha took 3 wickets and Dushmantha Chameera took 2 wickets.

On the other hand, Sri Lanka had a bad start and opener Kusal Perera was out in the second over itself. But this did not affect the host team and for that Nissanka along with Kusal Mendis attacked. Both the batsmen proved to be a headache for Australia. During this, Mendis scored his third consecutive half-century, while Nissanka also crossed the 50 mark.

(News is being updated)