England defeated Sri Lanka by a margin of four wickets to advance to the T20 World Cup semifinals, eliminating Australia in the process.
Even though a target of 142 appeared to be comfortably within reach after openers Jos Buttler and Alex Hales produced 75 for the first wicket in just eight overs , the group 1 match's decisive chase was anxiety-inducing. But six wickets fell in the space of 65 deliveries due to unforced errors, adding only 54 . These dismissals were evenly divided among the trio of Wanindu Hasaranga , Dhananjaya de Silva, and Lahiru Kumara, and for a brief while , it appeared as though an upset was definitely in the cards.
However , Ben Stokes, as usual, led England to victory with a 42 from 36 that only had two fours but allowed the score to keep ticking up until Chris Woakes' cut for four with two balls remaining. The game was much tighter than it should have been, especially when Sri Lanka's opener Pathum Nissanka (67) got them off to a fast start after Dasun Shanaka decided to bat first after winning the toss .
