England into the Semi-Final

England registered a 4 wicket win over Sri Lanka in the 39th T20I of the T20I World Cup at Sydney on Saturday. Sri Lanka Captain Dasun Shanaka won the coin toss and elected to bat first.

After winning the toss, Sri Lanka made 141 runs for the loss of 8 wickets in their 20 overs. Sri Lanka had a good start with Kusal Mendis and Pathum Nissanka. Both added 39 runs for the 1st wicket. Mendis made 18 runs. 32 runs later Dhananjaya de Silva was dismissed for 9 runs. After that, Sri Lanka lost their wickets at regular intervals. Pathum Nissanka was the top scorer with 67 runs. Bhanuka Rajapaksa scored 22 runs. Sri Lanka scored 80 runs in their first 10 overs but England’s bowlers managed to restrict Sri Lanka to under 150. For England, Mark Wood claimed 3 wickets.

In reply to that, England chased down the target successfully in 19.4 overs. They scored 144 runs for the loss of 6 wickets. England had a blistering start and both Jos Buttler and Alex Hales made 75 runs for the 1st wicket. Buttler made 28 runs. Alex Hales was dismissed for 47 runs. After the departure of England’s openers, Sri Lankan bowlers took wickets and put pressure back on England. However, Ben Stokes was able to guide his team to victory. He scored an unbeaten 42 runs.

With that win, England qualified for the semi-final of the T20 World Cup 2022 and Australia was eliminated from the tournament.