Sri Lanka’s chances of making the semifinals of the ICC World Cup took a beating as they suffered a 9-wicket loss to South Africa on Friday, 28 June.
The Proteas were already out of semifinal contention after winning just one of their first seven games, but had won 16 of their previous 18 ODIs against Sri Lanka and got on top quickly.
Sri Lanka was coming off an upset win over England that changed the momentum of the tournament, exposing the hosts to the possibility of missing out on the playoffs.
Another win would have moved Sri Lanka past Bangladesh and Pakistan to equal on eight points with fourth-placed England, but the bowlers were unable this time to defend a small total.
After this loss, Sri Lanka are placed seventh with six points from 7 games while South Africa are 8th with 5 points from eight matches.
ICC World Cup 2019 Points Table
Sri Lanka Down, But Not Out
Mathematically speaking, Sri Lanka can still reach the semifinals.
But just winning their last two group stage matches – West Indies (1 July) and India (6 July) will not be enough. They will also need to rely on other results going its ways to be able to make the World Cup knockouts.
Currently, Sri Lanka are trailing Bangladesh (5th) and Pakistan (6th) by just one point and two points away from fourth-placed England.
(With inputs from AP.)
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