Former champions Sri Lanka are on the brink of an early exit from the T20 World Cup after rain washed out their Group D match against Nepal in Lauderhill, Florida, on Tuesday.

The 2014 champions badly needed a win to keep their tournament hopes alive after suffering defeats at the hands of South Africa and Bangladesh in their first two matches.

Wanindu Hasaranga’s team are at the bottom of the group with just one point and look certain to crash out unless other results go their way.

“It’s not going to be easy for us and it would be a miracle actually,” Sri Lanka spinner Maheesh Theekshana said of their chances of advancing.

They will conclude their group campaign against the Netherlands on Sunday and Theekshana acknowledged nothing had clicked for them in the 20-team tournament.

“We didn’t bat well, we didn’t assess the conditions really well and our plans, everything went wrong,” the off-spinner said.

“As a team right now, it’s not going to be easy for the next game but still, I think when we look at the last two games that we played, we didn’t play well. We didn’t play the best cricket that we had.

“So, I think we didn’t earn the spot... the way we played in the first two games. I don’t think we earned the spot for the Super 8 but still, we have one game left, so we’ll try to do our best.”

He expressed disappointment about their performance. “We had high hopes about this World Cup. I am not satisfied with the performance of our team. We had a good mentality, bowlers practised well, batsmen also practised well... We were in a good position when we came to this tournament. I think we have done a lot of mistakes as a team, so we couldn’t enter the Super 8t.”

Nepal are also winless after two matches and on Friday, they face unbeaten group leaders South Africa. The Proteas, who have three straight victories, are now assured of a place in the Super 8.

Nepal could still qualify if they manage big wins against South Africa and Bangladesh in their last two games, and if Netherlands don’t win both their remaining matches.

“Obviously we want the sun to shine and have a proper game,” Nepal coach Monty Desai said.

“We know that we are walking into the unknown. We have never played South Africa before. But at the same time, the morale in the camp (is high)...”

Written with PTI inputs