England top Group 2 with four points after defeating Pakistan by two wickets at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on Tuesday. Harry Brook’s century helped the Three Lions win the game against Salman A Agha’s side. England became the first team to qualify for the semi-finals of the 2026 T20 World Cup.
Brook, who promoted himself to No. 3, scored a captain’s 100 off 51 balls as he showed controlled aggression and captaincy in one of the most important matches for England where other batsmen failed to score much. Will Jacques played an important inning of 28 runs in 23 balls and played the role of an anchor.
Pakistan qualification scenario revealed
After this defeat, Pakistan’s qualification scenario for the semi-finals is in danger. A defeat against England and the first game against New Zealand was a washout without a single ball being bowled. They currently have one point and are second in the league table. Pakistan’s win in their next match against Sri Lanka will not guarantee their place in the last four.
Apart from this, they will also have to keep an eye on the remaining two matches of Group 2, in which New Zealand will face England and Sri Lanka will face New Zealand. Sri Lanka and New Zealand can move ahead of the Men in Green with two wins each. This means the Kiwis and island nations cannot win more than one match.
If Mitchell Santner’s team beats the co-hosts on February 25, they cannot beat England on February 27. After this, Sri Lanka needs a win against the Black Caps. Pakistan would not want the Kiwi team to defeat the Three Lions by a big margin. This means that the Sri Lanka vs Pakistan match on February 28 will decide who will advance to the semi-finals.
Pakistan’s batting has been a flop
Talking about the match, Pakistan won the toss and chose to bat first. Shaheen Shah Afridi has returned to the team after keeping Faheem Ashraf out. Pakistan lost the wicket of Sam Ayub early as he was dismissed by Jofra Archer.
Pakistan’s batsmen once again failed to score big runs except Sahibzada Farhan, who has been the leading run scorer for the team and in the tournament with 283 runs. He scored 63 runs in 45 balls, no other batsman could score more than 30 runs.
Pakistan failed to perform against quality opponents
Chasing the target, England lost two openers within three overs, Phil Salt was out on the very first ball and Jos Buttler returned after scoring two runs. While the Three Lions were struggling, with Harry Brook promoting himself from No. 5 to No. 3, the captain took his time and almost finished the match with 10 runs needed from the last three overs.
Pakistan finally turned the match around by taking two quick wickets in the 19th over. However, Salman Ali Aga’s team failed to cross the line, as this has been a problem against quality opponents, they failed to maintain the pace of the game despite taking early wickets in the game.
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