England vs Sri Lanka, 42nd Match, Super 8 Group 2 (Y1 v Y4), ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 - Commentary

England haven't played their best cricket as yet and they still are finding ways to win cricket matches. They've 2 points on the board and will be more confident ahead of their next game against Pakistan at the same venue on Tuesday. Can they peak at the right time as the tournament heads to the knockouts? It's the same question for Sri Lanka as well. Did they peak too early? They started the tournament so well with three wins and they've now succumbed to two straight losses. Just 2 more Super Eight games left and they can't fumble any further? Their next match is against New Zealand on Wednesday and they'll hope for a better show at the RPS in what could be a must-win match. South Africa are batting first against India in tonight's blockbuster night game in Ahmedabad. Change tabs and join us for all the action. For now, cheers and bye..

Harry Brook | England Captain - A beautiful birthday present. I thought we played exceptionally there and to get over the line and bowl them out for less than 100 is an awesome effort. I didn't think there were really any demons on the pitch. I think the spinners on both sides used the pace really well, and that's what brought a lot of wickets. We saw how it was behaving in the first innings and lack of pace was creating chances. So we had a good chat about that before going out and we adapted to the surface really well. It was just slow (on the wicket). It was hard to time, and I thought Salty played an exceptional innings there to get 60 with everybody fumbling around him as well. Not the fluent Phil Salt that everybody knows, but he managed to get us to a very good score there and a couple of partnerships at the end as well. It was a hell of a performance. Not concerned at all (on Buttler's form). He's a powerhouse of world cricket. He has been for many years. He's arguably the best white-ball player to have ever played the game. He's just lacking a little bit of confidence at the minute, but I'd rather him start the competition like this and finish with a flourish. Looking forward and really excited to see how he goes in the next couple of games. It has worked for them, we've played a lot of cricket here in the last few weeks, and we knew that it was gonna play a big part today. And Jacksie was pretty annoyed with the way he got out, so he said to me he always bowls better when he's angry, and thankfully he got off to a cracking start on Will Jacks). I had a chat with the spinners as well and we were like, we don't really need to vary our lines, it's more about paces, and as we saw, we got rewards for that as well with a few caught and bowleds, like I said, and a couple of catches out on the boundary, it was perfect adaption to the surface. No, not really (if he thought England will be better served on Sri Lankan wickets). I feel like we can play on any surface. Like you said, Joss hasn't fired yet, but when he does fire and he gets on a very good wicket, he's going to get 100 and blitz the team away. And same with Salty as well, he got 60 today, but like I said, it's not the flourishing Salty that we know. Once we can figure that power play out and get on top of them with the bat, then we're going to be a very hard team to beat.

Dasun Shanaka | Sri Lanka Captain - It's very disappointing, but at the same time, we had a lot of positives in the ball. So I think we kept them towards a total which was at least 20 runs under par. I expected my players to bat well. A combination of all the things (on the reasons for the low-scoring contest). I think the pitch played well. Certainly, it was a bit slow in the first innings, but with the lights on, it settled a bit. We played badly. All the bowlers in our side bowled well, it's not that they (England) bowled really well. We played some rash shots in critical intervals. In this World Cup, we tried with five main bowlers. I mean, including allounder. So it is a nice attack to have, so I can restrict most of the sides to lower scores. The discussion was to take it deep (during the chase). We have played a lot of cricket in this sort of conditions, it was about taking it deep and taking the positive options and the right options, which we didn't take. So eventually it's one bad game which is not affordable in a World Cup, but we need to bounce back in the next couple of games. (when asked if he's confident about bouncing back) As I mentioned, it's the one bad game. The top four have done really well in the recent past, so I'm pretty sure that they will do well in the upcoming games.

Will Jacks | Player of the Match: We're buzzing with that. Halfway stage, we were pleased to get up to 145, but obviously we knew we were going to have to bowl well and work hard. And we had such a brilliant start in the powerplay, Jof got us off to a good start. And then we managed to continue taking wickets all the way throughout. (On the conditions) We seem to do well here. We've obviously just come off a series against Sri Lanka at this ground. So we do know it well. Yeah, with minimum really 12 overs to spin here, that suits us. I think we spin the ball hard, which definitely helps there. And we seem to do well defending, squeezing the game, like squeezing, eking every dot out that we possibly can. And we know as a chasing side how hard it makes it. (Bowling crucial overs) I love getting that responsibility with the ball. I think it encourages me to get into the game and perform better. I think I like that responsibility and bowling in the powerplay is something I've done a lot. So it's not foreign to me. And when we get on the surface like that, I come into the game knowing what I need to do. We haven't quite been at our best, but importantly, we've been winning those close games. And I think it's quite relieving in a way to get through that stage where you're expected to win. Coming back here and against the better teams in a way, some of that pressure is off you and you just go out there and play your way. And that's something we've done today. Played with freedom. And it's just about trusting our own game. We know we're good enough and we know if we play with that freedom and that unity that more often than not we'll be in the right position.

Stats by Shashikant Singh

Most PoTM awards in a single T20 WC edition
4 - Shane Watson in 2012
3 - Sikandar Raza in 2022
3 - Will Jacks in 2026*

Lowest totals for SL in T20 WCs
77 vs SA, New York, 2024
87 vs AUS, Bridgetown 2010
95 vs ENG, Pallekele, 2026*
101 vs AUS, Cape Town, 2007
101 vs WI, Colombo RPS, 2012

51 runs win is England’s second biggest in T20 WCs after 116 runs win against AFG at Colombo RPS in 2012.

This is England’s 12th successive win against Sri Lanka in T20Is. Only Pakistan's 15 wins against Zimbabwe (between 2008-21) are the most consecutive wins against a full-member team in T20Is.

Seven wickets by England spinners - the most by them in a T20 World Cup match.

Lowest totals successfully defended by ENG (20-over T20Is)
128/9 vs SL, Pallekele, 2026 (won by 12 runs)
129/6 vs PAK, Abu Dhabi, 2012 (by 5 runs)
142/7 vs AFG, Delhi, 2016 WC (by 15 runs)
146/9 vs SL, Palleleke, 2026 WC (20 runs)*

This is also the second-lowest total successfully defended against Sri Lanka in T20 WCs after West Indies’s 137/6 (won by 36 runs) at Colombo RPS in the 2012 edition.

18:13 Local Time, 12:43 GMT, 18:13 IST: Sri Lanka were cock-a-hoop going into the break. The bowlers had done a stupendous job to restrict the powerful England batting line-up to a mere 146. With their top-order firing on all cylinders, you'd think they had this chase in the bag, but their batting in the powerplay was a shocker. Pathum Nissanka whipped one with the angle and holed out to deep mid-wicket. Kusal Mendis tamely chipped one back to Will Jacks, next ball, Pawan Rathnayake had a brain explosion as he holed out to cover. Kamila Mishara then edged one to short third, Kamindu Mendis went with hard hands on the tuck and offered a leading edge to the bower. 34 for 5 inside the batting powerplay and the crowd in Pallekele was truly silenced. Skipper Dasun Shanka did chip in with a 24-ball 30, but he was simply unable to stem the rot from the other end. The hosts have been bundled out for a mere 95, their lowest-score of the tournament so far and they've left themselves with plenty to do in the next couple of games. Three wickets for Will Jacks - how crucial he's been for England in the tournament? Vital runs during the league phase in India and now wickets on a pitch that assisted his off-breaks. Every bowler took a wicket with Archer, Rashid and Dawson getting two apiece. 

Adil Rashid to Dilshan Madushanka, THATS OUT!! Bowled!!

Liam Dawson to Dushmantha Chameera, THATS OUT!! Bowled!!