• Lanka on the threshold of elimination 

Heavy rain and a waterlogged outfield led to the abandonment of Sri Lanka’s crucial T20 World Cup match against Nepal on Tuesday in Florida.

The outcome meant that Group D leaders South Africa, who have won all three of their games, become the first team to qualify for the Super Eight stage of the tournament.

Rain had poured down for most of the day, with flood warnings in place around the region, but a break in the weather led ground staff to begin the task of trying to dry the field.

However, to the disappointment of the large and lively contingent of Nepalese fans in the Central Broward Stadium, after an hour of working on removing the standing water, officials called the game off, leaving the teams to share the points.

Sri Lanka, having lost their opening two games against South Africa and Bangladesh, are now on the brink of mathematical elimination from the competition.

This was the first point for Nepal, who lost their opening game to the Netherlands.

South Africa lead Group D with a perfect six points in three matches, while Bangladesh and the Netherlands have two points each from two games.

Can Sri Lanka still qualify?

Sri Lanka have just one match left against the Netherlands and if they win that game they will move to three points. That is the maximum they can get to now while Bangladesh and the Netherlands already have two points each.

For Sri Lanka to qualify with just three points, other results will have to go in their favour.

They can qualify if things go like this:

• Bangladesh vs. Netherlands match in Kingstown is washed out and both teams only get one point each. If one of the teams moves to four points then Sri Lanka will be eliminated
• South Africa defeat Nepal
• Nepal beat Bangladesh
• Sri Lanka beat the Netherlands

If everything plays out as mentioned above then Sri Lanka will be tied on three points with Bangladesh, Netherlands, and Nepal. In such a scenario, the net run rate will decide who reaches Super 8s. 

(Agencies)