England survived a late Sri lanka onslaught to win the crucial Super 10 encounter by 10 runs to book a semi-final place in the World Twenty20 here at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium in front of more than 11,000 cricket loving fans.
As a result of Saturday's victory, England will join the already qualified West Indies from Group 1 and thus ended the hopes of Sri lanka and South Africa's chances of making it into the last-4. After losing four wickets in the first three overs, Angelo Mathews inspired lanka almost pulled off the impossible just to fall 10 runs short in the end.
Mathews' well paced 73 off 54 balls brought them close to making the impossible possible, but England held the nerves in the end to see out the result.
At one stage lanka were languishing at 59/4 at 12.1 overs. But then Mathews and Kapugedera (30 from 27 balls) started the onslaught as Sri lanka scored 101 runs off the last 47 balls.
The duo put on a 80 runs partnership off 60 balls, giving lanka a slight chance of still keeping their semi-final hope alive.
After Kapugedera was picked up by Plunkett, Chris Jordan got the breakthrough by taking the wicket of Perera.
New batsman Dasun Chanuka (15 from 9 balls) joined the party immediately and struck some good blows as lanka required 22 off the last 2 overs.
But, Jordan delivered the goods yet again for the Poms. First he got rid off Chanuka, when his well struck shot was gathered brilliantly by Root at mid-off and then he bowled Rangana Herath in the last ball, leaving lanka require 15 from the last over with two wickets in hand.
By giving just seven runs and picking up two wickets in that over, Jordan brought an end to his four overs with an impressive 4/28.
With Ben Stokes bowling the last over, the onus was on Mathews to play the main anchor. But, the lankan skipper could manage only four runs as England won the thriller by 10 runs.
On Saturday, England were spot on with their tactics as they went about their business well. They saw through the new ball without taking much risk and once Sri lanka's main bowlers' allotted four overs got over, the Poms increased their tempo.
With Buttler's blinder of 66 from just 37 balls, including two sixes and eight fours, the Poms put up a challenging 171/4. Earlier, Sri lanka won the toss and Mathews expectedly asked England to bat, hoping the dew would favour them in the second innings. The decision initially seemed to pay off.
After conceding just four runs in the first over, Rangana Herath bowled a wicket maiden, trapping Alex Hales for a leg before for duck.
However, new batsman Joe Root (25 off 24 balls) and Jason Roy (42 off 39 balls) brought a bit of stability to the middle with a well paced partnership.
However, after Root and Roy were dismissed, England waited for lanka's star bowlers — Mathews, Herath and Vandersay — to complete the formality and once they did finish, Buttler and skipper Eoin Morgan upped the tempo.
Their partnership was crucial to the huge total, as the duo managed 74 runs from just 39 balls, with Buttler at the heart of it with 47 runs and Morgan scoring an important 22 off 16 balls.
In bowling, Vandersay with 26/2, Herath 27/1 and Mathews with 25/0 were economical.
In reply Sri lanka never got going as they lost four wickets in the opening three overs, to struggle at 15/4.
The writing was on the wall for the lankan lions, as their star batsman, who was their main hope of chasing down the massive target, got out in the very first over by getting caught in the deep by Hales of Willey, more or less ended their hopes of winning.
Matters only got worse for Sri lanka, as Dinesh Chandimal also walked back to the pavilion after edging one to Buttler in the very next over from Chris Jordan.
lanka were unable to overcome the slump as Milinda Siriwardana and lahiru Thirimanne got hit in consecutive deliveries, leaving Sri lanka languishing at 15/4.
It was the first time in T20s, Sri lanka have lost four wickets within the first three overs.
Then came the Mathews show. Although with Sri lanka unable to have enough players to support him, the lanka skipper was unable to take his team home.
Brief Scores
England: 171 for 4 (Buttler 66*, Roy 42) beat Sri lanka: 161 for 8 (Mathews 73*, Jordan 4-28) by 10 runs.