T20 World Cup: Sri Lanka through to Super 8; Nissanka's stunning century puts Australia on brink of early exit

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Colombo, Feb 16: Australia are on the brink of elimination at the T20 World Cup 2026 after Pathum Nissanka's unbeaten century sealed a superb eight-wicket win for Sri Lanka.

If Zimbabwe beat Ireland on Tuesday, the Aussies will be out of contention to reach the Super 8s.

The 2014 champions Sri Lanka, meanwhile, booked their place in the next round, joining England, India, West Indies and South Africa after securing an impressive third straight victory, with Nissanka firing 100 not out from just 52 deliveries to conclude a successful chase with two overs to spare.

Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bowl, a decision that at first looked costly as both Mitchell Marsh and Travis Head put on a blistering 104 first-wicket stand in Pallekele, after Australia had opted not to include Steve Smith in their line-up.

But after Head fell for 56 from 29 balls to Dushan Hemantha (3-37), a partial Australia collapse began as Cameron Green (3) was soon dismissed before Marsh was trapped lbw for a 27-ball 54.

After the openers were removed, Josh Inglis' 22-ball 27 was as good as it got for Australia, who lost their final five wickets in Inglis, Cooper Connolly (3), Marcus Stoinis (4), Xavier Bartlett (0) and Adam Zampa (1) for just seven runs.

That resulted in Sri Lanka having a target of 182 for victory, still a difficult task but a boost for the tournament co-hosts who had surely expected to be chasing a score in excess of 200 after Marsh and Head's early big-hitting.

Australia made a good start when Kusal Perera (1) was removed by Stoinis in the second over, but from there, Sri Lanka steadied the ship through Nissanka and Kusal Mendis.

Mendis' eye-catching half-century, his third consecutive such score at the T20 World Cup, was brought to an end by Stoinis (2-46), but an expensive 15th over swung the contest in Sri Lanka's favour.

Nissanka plundered 20 off Stoinis to edge Sri Lanka closer to victory, and the win was sealed by Pavan Rathnayake (28no) who walloped Zampa down through square leg.

SL vs AUS: Nissanka delivers for Sri Lanka

Fans have been made to wait before seeing the first century of the T20 World Cup, and they were treated to a stunning display from Nissanka, who mixed touch and power as he struck 10 fours and five maximums.

Indeed, Nissanka's unbeaten 100 was just the second time he had recorded a century in the shortest format, with his knock here his second-highest score in T20Is, behind the 107 he managed against India in September 2025.

But he was helped by Mendis, whose score of 51 took him to 168 runs in the 2026 event, surpassing New Zealand's Tim Seifert for the most at the tournament so far.

Sri Lanka have now won three consecutive T20Is, having only won one of their previous six matches in the format. They have also put together back-to-back wins in Pallekele for the first time since November 2015 after winning by 105 runs against Oman in their last match at the venue.