Pallekele [Sri Lanka], February 17 (ANI): Sri Lanka secured an eight-wicket victory over Australia, powered by Pathum Nissanka's unbeaten 100 and advanced to the Super 8s of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026. Speaking on JioHotstar's 'Match Centre Live', JioStar experts Anil Kumble and Sri Lanka Head Coach Sanath Jayasuriya, analysed Nissanka's dominance, Australia's bowling struggles, and Sri Lanka's impeccable performance.

Speaking on JioHotstar's 'Match Centre Live', JioStar expert Anil Kumble hailed Sri Lanka's comprehensive win over Australia and said, 'Pathum Nissanka played an outstanding knock, one of the best innings in this World Cup and the tournament's first hundred. That was the game-changer. Sri Lanka executed the chase perfectly. Their first 10 overs with the ball weren't ideal, but from Travis Head's dismissal, it was all Sri Lanka.'

Jayasuriya spoke highly of his Indian support staff for their contribution and said, 'R Sridhar, our fielding coach from India, and Vikram Rathour, our batting coach, are outstanding additions. They deliver exactly what we need in practice. Sridhar excels with fielding, and Vikram, with his IPL experience, works brilliantly with the batters. They gel well with the group and instilled real confidence in our players. Even when we coaches sometimes get desperate, we've backed the batting unit, and their contributions have been excellent.'

On Sri Lanka's strategy, he said, 'We targeted Zampa as the key threat. If he bowls well, we shut him down early, then attack the others. With dew making the pitch better, we backed our batters. Kusal Mendis and Pathum Nissanka batted superbly; Pathum never let up after that, sealing it with a big hundred. Pavan Rathnayake is another bright future star for Sri Lanka. He's playing brilliant cricket despite limited T20 experience.'

Coming to the match, Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to field first. An 104-run stand between a returning skipper, Mitchell Marsh (54 in 27 balls, with eight fours and two sixes) started off things for Australia, but Aussies could not make the most of this perfect headstart as they were skittled out for 181 runs in 20 overs, with Josh Inglis (27 in 22 balls, with three fours) and Glenn Maxwell (22 in 15 balls, with a four and a six) being the only ones to touch the 20-run mark later.

Dushan Hemantha (3/37 in four overs) and Dushmantha Chameera (2/36 in four overs) were the top bowlers for Sri Lanka.

In the run-chase, Perera fell early, but Nissanka (100* in 52 balls, with 10 fours and five sixes), Kusal Mendis (51 in 38 balls, with six fours and a six), and Pavan Rathnayake (28* in 15 balls, with six fours) took Sri Lanka to the target with eight wickets and two overs left.

Australia are third in the group with one win and two losses, behind table-toppers SL and Zimbabwe, who have won both their matches. If Zimbabwe win their clash against Ireland on Tuesday, the Aussies will be out of the tournament. (ANI)