Watch: George Dockrell dismisses Pavan Rathnayake uniquely during SL vs IRE T20 WC 2026

The co-host of the T20 World Cup 2026, Sri Lanka, began their campaign against Ireland at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, where the opposition captain won the toss and put them into batting first, where they struggled to get going in that department during the first half of the innings as Ireland kept the tight line in a disciplined way. 

One of the smart wickets came from George Dockrell, who dismissed Pavan Rathnayake for five runs in nine balls. The right-handed batter tried to ramp the first ball of the eleventh over. He didn’t imagine the ball would keep that low. He was down on his knees to guide the ball towards the third man region.

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However, the ball kept straight and shattered the off-stump. That was the end of his struggling knock as Dockrell got the wicket, continuing a tight spell and ending with figures of 2/17 in his four overs to be the peak of the bowling unit as they held the pressure on the home side for a long time.

Pavan Rathanayake got misjudged in SL vs IRE T20 WC 2026 clash 

However, Sri Lanka broke the jail towards the back end of the innings as their number three batter, Kushal Mendis, remained unbeaten on 56 runs in 43 balls with the help of five boundaries at a strike rate of 130.23. It was also a tough knock from the wicket-keeper batter, who was able fire the big shots towards the end of the innings and carried them over the 160-run mark.

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However, the biggest contribution of the Sri Lanka innings came from Kamindu Mendis, who dashed a fine knock of 44 runs in just 19 balls at a strike rate of 231.58, smashing four boundaries and a couple of sixes. Barry McCarthy had a night to forget with 2/40 in three overs.

Ireland made a stable start with the bat in the chase as they got 24 runs in three overs. But Maheesh Theekshana drew the first blood with the wicket of Paul Striling on six runs in 13 balls.