Pakistan knocked out of ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026

KANDY: Former champions Pakistan have been knocked out of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 after failing to curtail co-hosts Sri Lanka below 147 in their high-stakes Super Eights match, underway here at the Pallekele International Stadium on Saturday.

The 2009 champions were put into bat first by Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka in the crucial Group 2 fixtures – a decision which backfired as the Green Shirts piled up a mammoth total of 212/8 in their 20 overs, courtesy of in-form opener Sahibzada Farhan's century and Fakhar Zaman's fifty.

Despite registering a massive total on the board, Pakistan bowlers were set an uphill task of restricting Sri Lanka to 147 or less to qualify for the T20 World Cup 2026 semi-finals.

However, Pavan Rathnayake's unbeaten half-century helped Sri Lanka breach the aforementioned score in 15.5 overs.

As a result, Pakistan will remain third in the standings regardless of their victory over Sri Lanka in the ongoing fixture, as they would remain behind New Zealand's net run rate of 1.390.

The 2009 champions, who suffered a group-stage exit in the previous edition of the T20 World Cup in 2024, had another underwhelming campaign as they failed to reach the knockouts since their runners-up finish in 2022.

Pakistan had a triumphant start to their T20 World Cup 2026 campaign as they beat Netherlands and United States of America (USA) in their opening two matches before suffering a gut-wrenching defeat at the hands of arch-rivals India.

The former champions later booked their spot in the Super Eights by securing a comprehensive 102-run victory over Namibia in their last group-stage fixture and finished second in the standings with six points in four matches, only behind holders India.

Pakistan then settled for a washout against New Zealand, which made their remaining fixtures against England and Sri Lanka, respectively, must-win.

The Green Shirts then locked horns with England and succumbed to a two-wicket defeat, courtesy of Harry Brooks, which had made them dependent on the outcomes of the remaining Group 2 fixtures.

But not all the outcomes went their way as New Zealand won one of their remaining two T20 World Cup 2026 Super Eights fixtures against Sri Lanka, before failing to beat Sri Lanka by a substantial margin in the ongoing clash.