Sri Lanka flew to New Zealand in search of the remaining place in the Test World Cup final, which Australia had secured earlier. The team initially looked promising with a good performance. With Australia performing well against India, who were looking for the same final, Lanka got their hopes up. However, Sri Lanka was out and India were in as New Zealand won the last ball of the Test to give a T20 thrill and India picked up a valuable point at the other end.
Sri Lanka, who struggled to keep up with the Kiwis, finally returned from their tour and the situation became even more dire. The team, which has secured direct qualification in every ODI World Cup so far, now needs to win the qualifying matches to enter the ODI tournament starting in India in October. New Zealand have already clinched the series by winning two of the three ODI series. A match was rained out. In the last ODI, the Kiwis bowled out Sri Lanka for 157.
Those who are in the top eight in the ODI ranking are eligible. After the defeat, Sri Lanka dropped from the eighth position and the qualification fight became mandatory. Currently West Indies is eighth. Sri Lanka ranked 10th. South Africa and Ireland are also likely to climb to the eighth spot. South Africa have one more ODI against Ireland. If they win that too, they can be eighth. However, Ireland have a three-match ODI series against Bangladesh. If they win all three, they can join South Africa. Runrate and decide the fate.
The World Cup qualifiers will be held in Zimbabwe from June 18 to July 9. Apart from Sri Lanka, Netherlands, Zimbabwe, Nepal, Oman, Scotland and West Indies, South Africa and Ireland will play the qualifying matches. Two teams will qualify from this.
Along with New Zealand, England, India, Pakistan and Australia, the teams of Bangladesh and Afghanistan have already moved.