Sri Lanka finished eighth at the Hong Kong Sixes, losing the seventh-place play-off to hosts Hong Kong, China by one run at Mission Road Ground, Mong Kok on Sunday.
Hong Kong made 119 for no wicket from their six overs. Sri Lanka, chasing 120, closed on 118 for four, according to the full scorecard on ESPNcricinfo.
Sri Lanka chose to field and never took a wicket
Captain Sangeeth Cooray won the toss and elected to field. Hong Kong did not lose a batter.
Anshy Rath made 51 from 17 balls with three fours and six sixes before retiring not out under the format’s retirement rule, and Babar Hayat finished unbeaten on 44 from 16 with four fours and four sixes. Nizakat Khan struck 14 not out from four deliveries. Sri Lanka also conceded 10 extras, including eight wides.
Every Sri Lankan bowler went wicketless. Cooray was the most economical at 15 from his over; Chamindu Wijesinghe conceded 29.
The chase was lost in the first two overs
Sri Lanka’s reply collapsed almost immediately. Vishen Halambage — who had made an unbeaten 80 against Bangladesh earlier in the tournament — fell for 14 off five balls in the fifth delivery of the innings, caught by Babar Hayat off Nasrulla Rana.
Yasim Murtaza then removed Movin Subasingha for a first-ball duck and Sachitha Jayatilake for 18, leaving Sri Lanka 34 for three inside two overs. Murtaza’s figures of two for 15 earned him the player-of-the-match award.
Muditha Lakshan rebuilt with 52 not out from 16 balls, four fours and five sixes, retiring not out, and Cooray finished 30 not out from nine. The partnership took Sri Lanka to 111 before Wijesinghe retired out at 5.5 overs, but the last ball left them two short of the target.
How Sri Lanka reached the play-off
Sri Lanka won one of two group matches, beating Bangladesh before losing to Scotland by 26 runs, finishing the group with a net run rate of −0.789. They then lost the Plate semi-final to Oman by five wickets, which sent them into the seventh-place play-off.
The tournament was won elsewhere: Afghanistan and Australia contested the final, Oman beat Pakistan in the Plate final and England beat South Africa in the Bowl final.
A note on the record
Sri Lanka came into this edition as neither champions nor defending champions. The team won the Hong Kong Sixes in 2024 but exited in the first round in 2025, and Pakistan entered the 2026 tournament as the defending champions. An eighth-place finish is one place better than last year.