The Sri Lankan cricket team has been unable to seal a direct qualification place in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, after failing to win two matches in the ongoing series against India.
The hosts were thrashed by 168 runs in the penultimate match in Colombo and that puts them 0-4 behind in the five-match series. This is the largest defeat at home for Sri Lanka in ODIs in terms of runs.
The 1996 World champions needed two wins in the five-match series to secure a place in 2019 world cup, in UK. The top seven ODI sides apart from host England as on 30 September qualify directly.
But with India taking a 4-0 lead, Sri Lanka will now have to wait for the Windies to lose at least one of its upcoming matches to be able to clinch that berth. If Sri Lanka wins the last match of the series on Sunday, they will reach 88 points on the points table but that will not be enough to ensure an automatic qualification.
The Windies will be able to overtake Sri Lanka in such a scenario since it can also reach 88 points and edge Sri Lanka on decimal points if it wins its upcoming six matches – one against Ireland on 13 September and all ODIs of a five-match series against England from 19 to 29 September.
In case Sri Lanka loses the series 5-0, the Windies will be able to overtake it by beating Ireland and winning either all five matches against England or the last four matches for a 4-1 series win. Teams not getting direct places in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 will get another shot through a Qualifying tournament.
