Sri Lanka has been unable to seal a direct qualification place in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 in the ongoing ODI series against India after failing to win two matches. No doubt Sri Lanka is going through a rough patch.

With an early exit from ICC Champions Trophy to losing against Zimbabwe. But the worst was waiting for them as they were whitewashed in the three match test series against India and also lost the ODI series as India took a 4-0 lead. Lankans had to win at least two ODIs to qualify directly for World Cup. But to surprise, they didn’t! The top seven ODI sides apart from hosts England as on September 30 qualify directly.

Who could have imagined the 1996 World Cup winners and 2011 World Cup runner up and a team that once boasted of being the best would suffer this way? But there is yet another way. West Indies if loses at least a single match against England than the Lankans would be able to qualify directly. If Sri Lanka win the last match of the series on Sunday, they will reach 88 points in the points table but that will not be enough to ensure them automatic qualification.

Sri Lanka must now wait on West Indies results to see if they'll qualify directly for #CWC19. https://t.co/mn96Eum2Be pic.twitter.com/pCTcALGtR2

— ICC (@ICC) August 31, 2017

If the Indies win one match against Ireland on September 13 and all ODIs of a five-match series against England from September 19 to 29 then they will go past Lankans to qualify for the World Cup. But the teams who won’t get direct qualification will have to go out for qualifying games.

The ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2018 will feature the bottom four sides from the ICC ODI Team Rankings, the top four sides from the ICC World Cricket League Championship and the top two sides from the ICC World Cricket League.

We will have to wait to watch what fortune is brought to Sri Lanka. Lankans would visit India later this year to play a series yet again.