World Cup underway in India and Sri Lanka – Pathum Nissanka lights up Pallekelle as host team storms into Super Eight-by Upali Obeyesekere, Toronto, Camada
The 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka, is in full swing and has already delivered the excitement and drama that makes Twenty20 (T20) cricket the most popular format of the game. From the nail-biting clash between South Africa and Afghanistan, which took two Super Overs to decide a winner, to Sri Lanka scoring the tournament’s highest total against Oman, to India beating Pakistan, to Zimbabwe beating Australia, to Pathum Nissanka’s scintillating century that helped beat Australia, fans are seeing all 20 participating teams trying their best to advance to the Super Eight stage.
Cricket fans all over the world are enjoying World Cup cricket at its highest level that has attracted the best from the twenty countries vying to be World Champions of the shortest format of the game. The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 is under way across India and Sri Lanka from February 7 to March 8. The 10th edition of the tournament will follow the same format as the 2024 T20 World Cup, featuring 55 matches across eight venues – five in India and three in Sri Lanka. Defending champions India are the joint-most successful nation in men’s T20 World Cup history with two titles. West Indies and England are also two-time champions. History has shown us that T20 cricket could offer surprises at the big stage. It only takes one or two bowlers to destroy the best of batting. In the same token, it only takes one batsman to score well to win a match. This was seen in the India vs. USA match which the former win due to a majestic innings of 84 by its skipper Suryakumar Yadav. Pathum Nissanka’s brilliant unbeaten century helped Sri Lanka beat Australia by 8 wickets. This trend has continued during the round- robin stage of the matches so far completed. Judging by the games played South Africa and Sri Lanka have come out strong and may well be the ‘dark horse’ in this
year’s world cup tournament. Just my thoughts! It has been before, and why not this year.
The 20 teams were split into four even groups of five each, with each side playing a minimum of four matches against their other group members. The top two teams from each group will progress to the Super 8 stage, which will consist of two groups of four teams. The winners of the two groups will meet in the final. Pretty straightforward structure considering that 20 teams are participating in this year’s tournament. If Pakistan qualify for the first semi-final and final, the matches will be held at the R. Premadasa in Colombo. However, if they fail to qualify, the first semi-final and final will be held in Kolkata and Ahmedabad, respectively. Pakistan asked ICC permission to play their matches in Sri Lanka and refused to play in India and this arrangement was approved by the International Cricket Council (ICC).
As at going to press, the tournament has reached a point where 30 of the 40 matches in the round robin stage are completed. Based on the points earned, it is safe to predict the eight teams that may qualify for the Super Eight stage with near accuracy. This writer’s pick is that India, Pakistan, Australia or Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, England, West Indies, South Africa, and New Zealand will compete in the Super Eight stage of the tournament.
Here are the four groups with the respective teams.
Group A: India, Pakistan, USA, Netherlands, Namibia Group B: Australia, Sri Lanka, Ireland, Zimbabwe, Oman Group C: England, West Indies, Scotland, Nepal, Italy
Group D: New Zealand, South Africa, Afghanistan, Canada, UAE
Group A – Considering results of matches, to date, India and Pakistan are expected to qualify for the Super Eights in this group. It must be mentioned that Associate Member USA did exceedingly well in their matches and even surprised India in their encounter. Had it not been for India’s skipper Suryakumar Yadav who scored a majestic 84, USA may have turned tables on the Indian team. Kudos to USA.
Group B – The biggest upsets of the tournament so far saw Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka beat Australia. Despite this upset win, Australia has one match left against Oman and it is likely they will win to enable them to overtake Zimbabwe who plays Sri Lanka in the next match to qualify for Super Eights. Sri Lanka and Australia/Zimbabwe are expected to qualify in this group.
Group C – Former World Cup Champions, West Indies are in top form having beat England by 30 runs and leads the table at this point with wins over Nepal and Scotland. Left to play their last match against Italy, West Indies will qualify for the Super 8s in this group along with England.
Group D – South Africa is the ‘dark horse’ in this year’s tournament. They have a terrific all-round side and have excelled in all three departments of the game having beaten Canada, and New Zealand. They beat Afghanistan after two Super Overs as both teams scored 187. Afghanistan who was considered to reach at least the semi-final stage of the tournament were eliminated after losing out to South Africa and New Zealand, both of whom are expected to qualify for the Super 8s.
This year’s World Cup witnessed many outstanding performances in batting and bowling. In the batting department, there were no centuries so far but there were a few spectacular individual performances with the bat. Sri Lanka opener Pathum Nissanka’s unbeaten century against Australia was inspiring and eventful as his knock enabled his team to lead the points table with 3 wins and qualify for the Super Eights. Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav smashed an unbeaten 84 runs in 49 balls against USA that prevented a huge upset. Other high scores were from the bat of LJ Tucker (Ireland), unbeaten 94 against Oman, Tim Seifert’s (New Zealand) unbeaten 89 against UAE, Aiden Markram’s (South Africa) unbeaten 86 against New Zealand, HG Munsey’s (Scotland) 84 against Italy, FH Allen’s (New Zealand) unbeaten 84 against UAE, Rahmanullah Gurbaz’s (Afghanistan) 84 against
South Africa. Special mention also goes out to Ishan Kishan (India) who scored a dashing 77 against Pakistan, and Sri Lanka’s
Kamindu Mendis’ 44 in 19 balls against Ireland, and Dasun Shanaka’s 50 in 19 balls against Oman.
India beats Pakistan by 61 runs in marquee group game
Image Source:Cricketmood
India and Pakistan players declined to shake hands before and after the hyped-up group game between the archrivals at cricket’s Twenty20 World Cup played in Colombo at R. Premadasa Stadium. India won it by 61 runs on Sunday (Feb.15) to secure its place in the Super Eight. India opener Ishan Kishan scored 77 off 40 deliveries in a match that only went ahead at Colombo after Pakistan reversed its decision to boycott. Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha and India captain Suryakumar Yadav didn’t shake hands at the pre-game toss of the coin, extending a freeze that started at last year’s acrimonious Asian Cup. Players there refused to shake hands during a tournament that took place amid diplomatic and military tensions between the neighboring countries. India posted 175-7 on a sticky pitch at R. Premadasa Stadium and dismissed
Pakistan for 114 in 18 overs. Despite the heavy defeat, Pakistan can still advance from Group A, if Sri Lanka beats Zimbabwe.
Brief Scores: India 175 for 7 (Ishan Kishan 77, Suryakumar Yadav, 32, Saim Ayub 3-25, beat Pakistan 114 (Usman Khan 44, Hardik Pandya 2-16, Varun Chakravarthy 2-17, Axar Patel 2-29) by 61 runs. Player of the Match: Ishan Kishan (India).
Pakistan skipper Salman Agha’s decision to bowl first surprised many because the ground has a history of not favoring run chases. It wasn’t all one-way. India’s innings had an early setback when its most aggressive batter, Abhishek Sharma, was dismissed without scoring. Agha bowled the first over with four dot balls and had Sharma caught by Shaheen Shah Afridi.
Kishan got India going with a six and a boundary in the following over and he dominated an 87-run stand for the second wicket with Tilak Varma. He blazed three sixes and 10 boundaries before being bowled by off spinner Saim Ayub. Ayub took two wickets in his last over to finish with his career-best T20I bowling of 3-25. Skipper Suryakumar Yadav (32) and Shivam Dube
(27) made useful contributions for India.
Poor start for Pakistan’s chase
Seam bowler Hardik Pandya gave India an ideal start with a wicket-maiden to start, dismissing Sahibzada Farhan with the fourth delivery of the innings. Jasprit Bumrah took two wickets in the next over to have Pakistan reeling at 13-3 and spinner Axar Patel bowled Babar Azam (5) in the fifth over to leave Pakistan 34-4. Usman Khan resisted with a 34-ball 44 but was stumped when he stepped out to hit Patel.
India and Pakistan could meet again in the semifinals or final. That game would also be played in Sri Lanka, which is co-hosting the tournament with India.
Sri Lanka beat Australia by 8 wickets to qualify for Super Eights
Photo Source: ICC-Cricket (Trevine Rodrigo – for eLanka)
Well, well, well. This has been a thrilling World Cup. Sri Lanka opener Pathum Nissanka smashed an unbeaten century as Sri Lanka chased down a target of 182 to beat Australia by eight wickets and reach the Twenty20 World Cup’s Super Eight stage on Monday (Feb.16), leaving their opponents on the brink of a humiliating early exit as at going to press. Australia’s hopes of reaching the Super 8 stage of the T20 World Cup are all but over after Sri Lanka opener Pathum Nissanka hit a brilliant unbeaten 100 to defeat Australia at Pallekelle. For Australia to sneak through as the second-placed team from Group B, they now need Zimbabwe to lose both of their remaining matches against Ireland and Sri Lanka and then to defeat Oman themselves which bring net run-rate into play.
Australia 181 all out (Travis Head 56 (29), Mitchell Marsh, 54, Dushan
Hemantha 3-37, Dushmantha Chameera, 2-36)
Sri Lanka 184 for 2 (18 Overs): Pathum Nissanka 100* (52), Kusal Mendis, 51
(38), Pavan Rathnayake, 28*. Stoinis 2-46
Player of the Match: Pathum Nissanka (Sri Lanka)
Put into bat, the returning captain Mitchell Marsh and the returning-to-form Travis Head were brutal in taking Australia to 104 in the first 50 legal deliveries, but some spectacular fielding and spin bowling helped Sri Lanka take 10 for 77 off the last 70 balls. Marsh (54) and Travis Head (56) shared a rapid opening partnership of 104 inside nine overs, but they failed to build on that momentum and collapsed to 181 all out as Dushan Hemantha bagged a three-wicket haul. Hemantha, under immense pressure from Head’s hitting, kept tossing the ball up, trying to turn it big, and eventually got one wide of Head’s reach, resulting in a catch at long-off. The ledger was lopsided: 20 runs off eight balls but the wicket gave Sri Lanka an opening in the door that had seemed shut. Cameron Green’s wretched tournament continued as he got stuck and then walked past one from Dunith Wellalage for 3 off 7. When Marsh played back to a full ball from Hemantha in the 11th over, Sri Lanka had two open ends to go after. The first ball Josh Inglis got was a ripper, turning from leg and past his bat, but Mendis missed the stumping. Still, at 127 for 3 in 12 overs, the main death bowler down, three big hitters still unbeaten, Australia held all the aces. Australia lost last five wickets for 7 runs in slumping to 181 all out. Mind you, Sri Lanka lost its strike bowler Matheesha Pathirana in the first over due to a hamstring injury.
Chasing a target of 182 runs, Sri Lanka had an early setback when opener Kusal Janith Perera was caught for a duck. Kusal Mendis, 51, joined Pathum Nissanka and weathered the storm for a match-winning partnership to build the score to 105 for the loss of 2 wickets. Nissanka and Mendis were involved in a 97-run stand off 66 balls for the second wicket, with the wicketkeeper-batsman posting his third fifty in the competition. Young star Pavan Rathnayake, 28 not out, then joined Nissanka to counter the varied Aussie bowling attack and take Sri Lanka to an inspiring 8 wicket victory against Australia. Nissanka slammed a match-defining unbeaten century off just 52 balls and becomes the first centurion of the 2026 T20 World Cup. His dashing innings included five sixes 10 fours that lit up the Pallekelle crowd. He joins Mahela Jayawardena to become second Sri Lankan player to score century in T20 World Cup Tournaments. Nissanka also became the first Sri Lankan to score two hundreds in T20 Internationals.
Congratulations Sri Lanka! One can never discount Dasun Shanaka and his team in the shortest format. After being eliminated in the group stage in the 2024 edition, they will take a lot of heart from the fact that they have made it to the Super 8s in this one. Also, the last time the tournament was held in Sri Lanka, in 2012, they ended up as the finalists. This time, they are the co-hosts but will hope for something similar or even better. In the Super Eight stage it is likely Sri Lanka will be in a group with England, Zimbabwe or Australia,
The SriLankan Anchorman will carry results of the World Cup from Super Eight stage to semi-finals to final in the March edition of the tabloid.,
