New Zealand’s Tim Seifert (L) stumps out Sri Lanka’s Pavan Rathnayake throughout the 2026 ICC Males’s T20 Cricket World Cup Tremendous Eights match between Sri Lanka and New Zealand on the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on February 25, 2026. Picture: AFP
New Zealand’s emphatic 61-run victory over Sri Lanka has left Pakistan’s semi-final hopes on the ICC Males’s T20 World Cup 2026 hanging by a thread as Tremendous Eights Group 2 enters its decisive section.
The New Zealand outclassed hosts Sri Lanka to successfully knock them out of the event and considerably strengthen their very own qualification bid.
Requested to bat first, New Zealand posted a aggressive 168-7 from their 20 overs, constructed round a gritty 47 from captain Mitchell Santner.
The overall proved properly past Sri Lanka, who slumped to 107-8 in reply, by no means threatening the chase.
All-rounder Rachin Ravindra was named participant of the match after contributing a brisk 32 off 22 balls, together with a six and three fours, and enjoying a key position with the ball as New Zealand dominated all aspects of the competition.
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The 61-run win delivered a significant increase to New Zealand’s web run price, lifting them to second place within the group with an NRR of +3.050 and tightening the squeeze on Pakistan.
Pakistan now faces a posh qualification state of affairs. With a web run price of -0.464, the previous champions should not solely beat Sri Lanka by a considerable margin — doubtlessly as a lot as 70 runs — but in addition rely upon the end result of the essential conflict between England and New Zealand.
In line with statistician Mazher Arshad, if England defeat New Zealand by 20 runs, Pakistan would nonetheless want a 50-run victory over Sri Lanka to edge into the semi-finals on web run price.
Nevertheless, if the England-New Zealand match is washed out, New Zealand would progress, ending Pakistan’s marketing campaign.
Because the Tremendous Eights attain their climax, Pakistan’s destiny now rests as a lot on outcomes elsewhere as on their very own efficiency.
