Sri Lanka eliminated from T20 World Cup after loss to New Zealand: What does this mean for Pakistan’s semifinal qualification scenario?

February 26, 2026
1:14 am

3 min readUpdated: Feb 25, 2026 11:00 PM IST

Sri Lanka became the first team eliminated from the T20 World Cup on Wednesday after they lost their Super 8 match against New Zealand by 61 runs. Chasing a target of 169, the Lankans were rocked early when they lost Pathum Nissanka in the very first delivery.

After that, the wickets kept falling regularly with Kusal Mendis scoring 11, followed by Charith Asalanka who scored 5. Pavan Rathnayake fell for 10 while Kamindu Mendis could only score 31. Skipper Dasun Shanaka was also dismissed for 3 while Rachin Ravindra snapped up 4 wickets.

Earlier, skipper Mitchell Santner (47) and Cole McConchie (31 not out) led New Zealand’s fightback after middle-order collapse. New Zealand suffered a batting collapse as they slipped from 75/2 to 84/6 during which they also lost three wickets without adding a run. Santner scored 47 off 26 balls with four sixes and two fours, while McConchie hit 31 not out from 23 balls (3 fours, 2 sixes). The pair added 84 runs for the seventh wicket.

What does this mean for Pakistan

While New Zealand winning the match against the Lankans does not eliminate Pakistan, it increases the pressure on them by ten-fold. In order for Pakistan to stay alive in the competition, they will need to win their last match against Sri Lanka and hope that New Zealand lose to England on February 27.

If New Zealand lose their last match vs England and Pakistan win their match vs Sri Lanka on February 28, both would be on 3 points which will bring net run rate into the equation. However, if the Kiwis win against England, they’ll go to 5 points which will be the end of the road for Pakistan because even if they defeated Sri Lanka, they can only reach 3 points.

Even if rain washes out the England vs New Zealand match and Pakistan defeat Sri Lanka, the Kiwis will still reach 4 points as opposed to Pakistan’s 3. In case the rain washes out both matches, Pakistan will get 2 while New Zealand will have 4 which will again help the Kiwis reach the semis.

The only way Pakistan can get through is by a New Zealand lose heavily to England and they win by a big margin against Sri Lanka due to the NRR coming into the equation.

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