‘In the lap of the gods’: How Australia can still reach Super 8s in the T20 World Cup despite Sri Lanka heartbreak

PALLEKELE — Australia’s T20 World Cup defence is hanging by the slenderest of threads after an eight-wicket capitulation to Sri Lanka on Monday night left the 2021 champions needing miracles and mathematics to squeeze into the Super 8s. A crestfallen Mitchell Marsh, fresh from a 54-ball cameo that ultimately proved insufficient, did not attempt to sugar-coat the situation. “We’re in the lap of the gods now,” he conceded, voice cracking under the weight of a second straight defeat. “There’s a lot of emotion in the rooms.”

For 30 overs Australia dared to dream. Marsh and Travis Head blazed to a 110-run stand inside the first half of the innings, the scoreboard racing to 110 for 2 and a 200-plus total shimmering on the Kandy horizon. Then the gears jammed. Sri Lanka’s spinners dragged the scoring rate back, wickets fell in clusters and the final 10 overs yielded only 71. “We probably left ourselves a few short,” Marsh admitted. “We just lost our way.”

If 181 felt competitive, it was rendered inadequate by Pathum Nissanka, whose unbeaten 100 off 52 balls was as audacious as it was clinical. The opener flayed Australia’s seamers over extra cover, reverse-swept Adam Zampa against the turn and finished the chase with 10 balls to spare, sealing Sri Lanka’s berth in the next phase and plunging the Australians into a nervous 48-hour vigil.

Group B is now a maze of ifs and buts. Australia sit on one win from three outings; their fate rests on the outcome of Zimbabwe’s remaining fixtures. A Zimbabwe victory over Ireland on Tuesday will officially end Australia’s campaign. An Ireland win, however, keeps the door ajar. If Ireland prevail and Zimbabwe then lose to Sri Lanka on 19 February, three sides — Zimbabwe, Ireland and Australia — would be locked on four points, flinging the qualification decision to net run rate. Australia, who conclude their group stage against Oman on 20 February, would need not only a thumping win but also a sizeable swing in run-rate margins to edge ahead.

“We watch the Zimbabwe-Ireland game and we hope,” Marsh said, summing up the helplessness of a squad that arrived expecting to control its own destiny. Instead they must now rely on scoreboard-watching and calculators, a scenario no world champion ever envisions. The lap of the gods, as Marsh calls it, is an uncomfortable place for a proud cricket nation; yet it is the only seat Australia have left.