Pallekele [Sri Lanka], February 22 (ANI): England defeated Sri Lanka by 51 runs in their first opening fixture of Super Eights in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 held at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Sri Lanka on Sunday.

With this win, the Harry Brook-led side registered their 12th straight victory over Sri Lanka in T20I cricket.

Speaking about the defeat during the post-match presentation, Sri Lankan skipper Dasun Shanaka said, 'It's very disappointing, but at the same time, we had a lot of positives with the ball. I think we kept them towards a total which was at least 20 runs under par. I expected my players to bat well. I think the pitch played well. Certainly, it was a bit slow in the first innings, but with the lights on, it settled a bit. We played badly. All the bowlers on our side bowled well.'

However, Shanaka broke the record of most sixes for Sri Lanka in T20Is. He hit a couple of sixes in his 30-run knock, which helped him overtake his teammate Kusal Mendis in the list of most T20I sixes for his national side.

On England's bowling, he said, 'It's not that they bowled really well. We played some poor shots in critical intervals. In this World Cup, we have five main bowlers. I mean, including one rounder. So it is a nice attack to have, so I can restrict most of the sides to lower scores.

Asked to bat first, England made 146/9 in 20 overs with the help of Phil Salt's 62 off 40 balls, including six fours and a couple of sixes.

Will Jacks (21 off 14 balls), Brook (14 off seven balls) and Sam Curran (11 off 11 balls) also contributed well to the total.

For Sri Lanka, Dunith Wellalage was the top wicket-taker with three scalps. Maheesh Theekshana and Dilshan Madushanka took a couple of wickets each.

Speaking on the chase, the Sri Lankan skipper said, 'The discussion was to take it deep during the chase. We have played a lot of cricket in these sorts of conditions; it was about taking it deep and taking the positive options and the right options, which we didn't take. So, eventually it's one bad game which is not affordable in a World Cup, but we need to bounce back in the next couple of games.

While chasing the challenging target, Sri Lanka lost their top-five wickets inside the powerplay.

Captain Dasun Shanaka (30 off 24 balls) tried his best to take his team past the line, but Adil Rashid dismissed him to dash the Lankan hopes.

Kamindu Mendis (13 off 11 balls) and Wellalage (10 off 10 balls) were the only batters for Sri Lanka to score in double digits.

The co-hosts were bundled out for 95 runs, losing the match by 51 runs as Jofra Archer, Liam Dawson and Rashid shared two wickets each among them, with Jacks taking a three-fer.

When asked if he's confident about bouncing back in the next match, Shanaka said, 'As I mentioned, it's the one bad game. The top four have done really well in the recent past, so I'm pretty sure that they will do well in the upcoming games.'

Now, Sri Lanka will clash with New Zealand in Colombo on Wednesday, whereas England will take on Pakistan on Tuesday at the same venue. (ANI)