COLOMBO (Kashmir English): In the 19th match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026, Zimbabwe defeated Australia with a brilliant performance. In this match played at the R Premadasa Stadium, Australia was restricted to 146 runs in pursuit of the target.
Australia won the toss and decided to field first. Zimbabwe batted responsibly and scored 169 runs in the stipulated 20 overs, setting the opponent a target of 170 runs to win. Brian Bennett was the outstanding batsman for Zimbabwe, who played a crucial innings of 64 runs.
In pursuit of the target, the Australian batting line looked under pressure and could not achieve the desired score in the stipulated overs; Zimbabwe won the match.
If we look at the history of T20 International cricket between the two teams, Australia and Zimbabwe have faced each other three times before, where Australia has won two and Zimbabwe has won one. Zimbabwe also caused a big upset by defeating Australia in the 2007 T20 World Cup.
The Australian squad for the match included Mitchell Marsh (captain), Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Tim David, Ben Duvarshuis, Cameron Green, Nathan Ellis, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Ingles, Matthew Cohenman, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Renshaw, Marcus Stoinis, and Adam Zampa.
The Zimbabwe team included Sikandar Raza (captain), Brian Bennett, Ryan Burrell, Graeme Cremer, Bradley Evans, Clive Madande, Tenutenda Mapusa, Tadewanashe Marumani, Wellington Masakadza, Tony Manyonga, Tashinga Musikewa, Blessing Mazarbani, Devon Myers, Richard Ngarawa, and Brendan Taylor.
