Nissanka guides Sri Lanka into Super Eights as Australia face early exit

His century and Rathnayake sweep guide hosts to comfortable victory

Pathum Nissanka made an unbeaten century as Sri Lanka chased down a target of 182 to beat Australia by eight wickets and reach the Twenty20 World Cup's Super Eight stage on Monday, leaving their opponents on the brink of a humiliating early exit.

Put into bat, Australia captain Mitchell Marsh (54) and Travis Head (56) shared a rapid opening partnership of 104 inside nine overs, but they failed to build on that momentum and collapsed to 181 all out as Dushan Hemantha bagged a three-wicket haul.

Nissanka and Kusal Mendis added 97 runs for the second wicket to get Sri Lanka off to a solid start. Nissanka struck five sixes and 10 fours to reach 100 in 52 balls, and Pavan Rathnayake (28) hit the winning runs with a sweep to mid-wicket as the hosts finished on 184-2 with two overs to spare.

Australia, former champions who lost their last match to Zimbabwe, must hope Sri Lanka beat Zimbabwe on Thursday to have a shot at qualifying for the Super Eights with a top-two finish in the group before they play Oman on Friday.