England beat Pakistan by two wickets to enter T20 World Cup semifinals

England beat Pakistan by two wickets to enter T20 World Cup semifinalsCaptain Brook’s century guides England home in chase of 165 with Pakistan staring at the prospects of an exit.Published On 24 Feb 2026England have qualified for the semifinals of the T20 World Cup with a nervy two-wicket win in their Super Eight match against Pakistan, who have inched closer to exiting the tournament.Captain Harry Brook scored a sublime century under pressure on Tuesday as his side successfully chased a 165-run target in 19.1 overs at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium outside Kandy, Sri Lanka, and became the first team to enter the knockouts.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4ICC Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup 2026 explained in maps and chartslist 2 of 4A long time coming: Italy to make World Cup cricket debut on February 9list 3 of 4India now sets the terms of global cricketlist 4 of 4How India-Pakistan cricket relations went from bad to worse – a timelineend of listBrook formed a 52-run partnership with in-form all-rounder Will Jacks, who scored 28 runs in the winning cause.England’s win, though, began with a tumble and ended with a wobble as their top-order and lower-middle-order batters slumped in the face of a par total of 164-9 set by Pakistan.The two-time champions went through to the last four by winning their second game of the Super Eights stage to bag four points while Pakistan remain on one point after two games.England’s run chase got off to a horrible start when Shaheen Shah Afridi removed opener Phil Salt off the first ball of the innings. Salt edged a length delivery to wicketkeeper Usman Khan, who obliged with a diving catch. Afridi, who was dropped from the Pakistan team for their washed-out match against New Zealand, carried on his dream return with a wicket in his second over as former captain Jos Buttler was dismissed in a similar manner.Jacob Bethell, caught in the deep off Afridi, and Tom Banton, caught behind off Usman Tariq, were the next two wickets to fall as Pakistan seemed to have the upper hand in the second innings.