T20 World Cup: Australia on edge of elimination after Sri Lanka loss
PALLEKELE: Sri Lanka on Monday inflicted an eight-wicket defeat on Australia to seal a Super Eight spot in the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026, leaving the Kangaroos on the brink of elimination.
Australia lost its second straight match in Group B of the T20 World Cup 2026 on Monday. The reverse put the Mitchell Marsh-led side on the brink of an elimination. It has just one win from three matches, having lost to Zimbabwe last week.
Though it is still mathematically in the hunt for the next stage, its fate rests on other results in this group.
Earlier, fifties from Australian openers Mitchell Marsh and Travis Head helped their team post a target of 182 runs against Sri Lanka in their group match of the T20 World Cup at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium.
After being sent in to bat, Australian openers Mitchell Marsh and Travis Head gave their side a solid start, adding 111 runs for the opening partnership.
Marsh scored 54 off 27 balls, hitting eight fours and two sixes before being trapped LBW by Dushan Hemantha. Head contributed 56 runs from 29 balls, with seven fours and three sixes.
Josh Inglis and Glenn Maxwell added 27 and 22 runs respectively, while the rest of the batting lineup failed to reach double figures. For Sri Lanka, Dushan Hemantha took three wickets and Dushmantha claimed two. Maheesh Theekshana, Dunith Wellalage, and Kamindu Mendis took one wicket each.
The first thing Australia needs to do is win its final game against Oman, preferably by a huge margin.
However, even that might not be enough. If Zimbabwe, currently with two wins from two games, wins one more game, Australia will be knocked out. Australia will only go through if Zimbabwe loses both its games, against Sri Lanka and Ireland. In this case, both teams will end up with four points each. But even then Australia will need to have a better Net Run Rate to pip the African side. Similarly, Australia will need a better NRR than Ireland too, since even Ireland can end up with four points if it beats Zimbabwe. Monitoring Desk
