T20 World Cup 2026: Why Pakistan are out of semifinal contention despite a 5-run win over Sri Lanka?

T20 World Cup 2026: Pakistan and Sri Lanka played a thrilling encounter at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on Saturday. It was a must-win game for Salman Ali Agha and Co. as the team's semifinal contention was dependent on the result of the fixture. As it turned out, Pakistan managed to carve out a 5-run victory over the Lankan Tigers, yet got eliminated from the competition. Subsequently, New Zealand have filled out the third semifinal spot.

Why Pakistan are out of semifinal contention despite a 5-run win over Sri Lanka?

It was a daunting task for Pakistan as not only did they need to defeat the hosts Sri Lanka in the Super 8 contest, but they also had to fetch a convincing win to overtake the Net Run Rate of New Zealand. Ahead of the match, the Kiwis were sitting in second place in the Group 2 table and were likely to proceed from the outset as they possessed a superior NRR of 1.390 in comparison to the Pakistan team, which was at -0.461. However, Pakistan still had an outside chance, and what was required from them was to beat Sri Lanka by a margin of 65 runs or more if batting first, and chase down the total inside 13 overs if batting second.

Pakistan kept the hopes of their fans alive by posting a commendable total of 212/8 in 20 overs. Openers Sahibzada Farhan and Fakhar Zaman forged a record opening partnership of 176, and on the back of that, Pakistan posted a score in excess of 200. Farhan made a scintillating century in 59 balls, and Zaman smashed 84 in 42 deliveries. Besides these batters, nobody contributed much, which in retrospect could be seen as the reason behind Pakistan's elimination from the World Cup. Pakistan lost 7 wickets in the last four overs and scored just 34 runs in the duration.

Despite the collapse, Pakistan had enough runs to believe that they could still grab the semifinal spot. To make it to the last four, Pakistan needed to restrict Sri Lanka to a score below 147. However, they failed the task and, as a result, their campaign came to an end. According to the latest update on the points table, Pakistan and New Zealand are tied on points, but it is the NRR which became the decisive factor. Pakistan's NRR after winning over Sri Lanka is -0.123.

Dasun Shanaka's gutsy knock of 76 in just 31 balls almost snatched the consolation win too. Still, luck favoured Pakistan as the final delivery of the match, bowled by Shaheen Afridi, was not given a wide by the on-field umpire. Chasing 213, Sri Lanka folded at 207/6 in 20 overs.