Sri Lanka 184 for 2 (Nissanka 100*, Kusal Mendis 51*) beat Australia 181 (Head 56, Marsh 54, Hemantha 3-37, Chameera 2-36) by eight wickets

Sri Lanka survived an early onslaught to qualify for the 2026 T20 World Cup Super Eights, leaving Australia right at the exit door and hoping for a miracle.

The returning captain Mitchell Marsh and the returning-to-runs 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.

In front of a partying full house in Pallekele, Sri Lanka's two most prolific batters, Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis, brought out both the axe and paper cuts to slice through the chase. Nissanka, who had earlier dropped Glenn Maxwell and then dismissed him with a stunner, went on to score an unbeaten hundred and take Sri Lanka home with two overs to spare.

In the absence of Matheesha Pathirana, who walked off with a calf injury in his first over, their spinners contributed six wickets to go with excellent closing from Dushmantha Chameera. Australia's lead spinner Adam Zampa, among the best T20 spinners of all time, took no wicket and was lucky to go for only 41 in his four overs.

Marsh, Head stun Sri Lanka

In a proper alpha move, Marsh walked back into the XI at the expense of Australia's highest run-getter in the tournament - Matt Renshaw - and immediately got down to showing why. Head, who had not scored a T20 fifty since the last IPL, matched him shot for shot. It looked like Australia were back to their best after the blip against Zimbabwe.

On top of that, Pathirana pulled up lame after sending down his fourth legal delivery, leaving Sri Lanka scrambling for options. Marsh, usually the powerhouse, also showed finesse in waiting for the ball to arrive and punching the spin of Maheesh Theekshana through covers off the back foot for two out of five consecutive fours. There was no relief around outside the powerplay as Head got stuck into legspinner Dushan Hemantha's first over. Early into the ninth over, the hundred had come up and both imposing batters had reached fifties.

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Hemantha, Wellalage hang in

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.

Everyone chips in

Kamindu Mendis, the ambidextrous marvel, took over left-arm spin to get rid of Tim David in the 13th over, caught at long-off. Australia took a breather and then Maxwell started to go in the 15th over, taking 15 off Kamindu. Run-rate back over 10.

To make it worse, Nissanka dropped a skier from Maxwell in the 16th. Just when it began to look ugly, Nissanka, at backward point, went more than two metres in the air to intercept a Maxwell reverse sweep off Hemantha.

Chameera rose to the occasion with special death bowling from around the wicket. A sharp bouncer got rid off Inglis; his 27 off 21 since the first-ball reprieve didn't do much damage.

Theekshana came back from a nightmare powerplay to bowl the 19th over and deny Marcus Stoinis the strike. He had Cooper Connolly caught off the slog sweep and then bowled three dots at Xavier Bartlett.

Chameera bowled a no-ball in the last over, but still conceded only four for the wicket of Stoinis off a slower legcutter. Only 21 came in the last four, only six in the last two.

Nissanka, Kusal Mendis dovetail

Stoinis opened the bowling with Bartlett and got rid of Kusal Perera in his first over with a change of pace into the pitch, but Australia showed they weren't quite adept at bowling slower ones with the new ball. Nissanka took full toll of the pace on the ball, and didn't let Connolly settle when he came on in the fifth over. Sri Lanka scored 61 in the powerplay, Nissanka dominating the scoring with 38 off 20.

One over of no boundaries outside the powerplay, and then Zampa reopened the floodgates with two long-hops bookending his first over. Mendis hit four fours in two overs of spin to go past Nissanka and be the first one to get to his half-century.

Zampa, Nathan Ellis and Maxwell bowled overs 10, 11 and 12 without a boundary, and then Stoinis got the wicket of Mendis in the 13th to leave Sri Lanka needing 77 off 47.

Endgame

Any hopes Australia might have had of mounting a comeback were dashed instantly. Pavan Rathnayake started with two fours off the first two balls, a check drive above cover and a dab past the diving wicketkeeper. Zampa put together a decent over, but Nissanka ruined it by charging at him and lofting him back over his head.

In the next over, he took apart Stoinis with a back-foot punch down the ground for four and a dismissive pull for a six that sent the already dancing crowd into ruptures. Nissanka was 72 off 41 when Sri Lanka needed 41 off the last five, but he decided to have himself a party after Rathanayake survived two close calls against Maxwell. He pumped Ellis, who didn't bowl a lot of slower balls, for two sixes before ending Zampa's horror night with 15 off the 18th over.