Published: February 13, 2026 at 4:12 pm
Zimbabwe scripted the biggest upset of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 so far, as they defeated Australia by 23 runs in Colombo on Friday. The African team revived memories of the upset win in 2007, when they beat Australia by five wickets in the T20 World Cup.
Unbeaten in the tournament, they are second in Group B standings while Australia have slipped to three. Only top two countries from each group will progress to the Super 8 stage.
Australia won the toss and elected to field, but little went their way after that. In an assured batting performance, posted 169/2 in 20 overs, their highest score against Australia in T20Is. Zimbabwe’s previous best against Australia was 151/9 in Harare in July 2018.
They carried on the momentum in the field, reducing Australia to 29/4 inside the first five overs.
Glenn Maxwell (31) and Matt Renshaw (65) helped Australia steady the ship. While Maxwell’s repeated attempts at breaking free reaped little reward, Renshaw steadily helped Australia pick up the pace during a mature innings of 64 off 44.
The 77-run stand for the fifth wicket came to an end after Maxwell dragged on a fullish delivery by Ryan Burl onto the stumps. His wicket led to the lower-order collapse, as Australia slipped from 106/5 to 146 all out.
“All I can tell you is that these are just cramps and I should be fine in the next day or two. Very happy and above all, very proud. Feeling of a brother whose younger brothers are achieving a lot together. The culture, environment, and unity we’ve created is amazing and on top of that, to win is unbelievable. 70-odd at 10 overs and I was happy and we discussed that we don’t want to go for 190. We try to go for 190, we are 140 all out. We’ve seen in Sri Lanka that you can end up losing wickets if you go too hard too early. So, we sent a message to Benny that he’s doing well and we’ll get to a good score if he stays through. And then the fielding, the catching, the boundary stopping … looked like the boys really wanted it,” said Zimbabwe skipper Sikandar Raza.
“We have just 13 able bodies right now and I went down and even Cremer has a big of a niggle. But I am sure Zimbabwe Cricket is looking into the replacements because in these conditions, you need 15 able bodies. The boys deserve to enjoy today. If we keep the same processes and take it one game at a time [it’ll be good]. We are in a great position, but it doesn’t mean anything. So, the next game is now the most important one,” he added.
Zimbabwe rewarded for disciplined bowling
Zimbabwe were rewarded for their disciplined bowling. Zimbabwe pacers Blessing Muzarabani and Brad Evans razed the Aussie top order, then returned to deliver the knockout blow. Muzarabani finished with 4 for 17, the best bowling figures by a Zimbabwe player at a men’s T20 World Cup and the best figures for Zimbabwe against a full member team. His pace partner Evans claimed 3 for 23 in 3.3 overs.
Blessing was named the Player of the Match for his career-best figures of 4 for 17.
“Yeah. I think I was bowling to some of the best players in the world, so I am really happy it came off really nice. The good thing is, I saw the boundary was in my favour and I just had to use that. And the wicket was also a bit slow,” he said.
“I believe Brad Evans bowled really well. Richie (Ngarava) was missed but Brad bowled really well and then everyone else also bowled very well. It’s sometimes hard to know the yorker length but sometimes it just works out on the day. Really good to beat Australia, but also (will be) nice to qualify, so looking forward to the next game now,” he said
Their commitment in the field was epitomised by Tony Munyonga diving catch to send back Ben Dwarshuis.
The Zimbabwe top order was in great nick and gave the team just the positive start they needed, motoring to 47/0 in powerplay. While Tadiwanashe Marumani (35) and Brian Bennett led the charge with a 61-run opening partnership, Bennett combined with Ryan Burl (35) to score 70 runs for the second wicket.
Bennett plays anchor role to perfection
Playing more of an anchor role, Bennett scored an unbeaten 64 off 56 balls. Captain Sikandar Raza chipped in with a crucial 25 off 13 balls, and hit the only six of the match, which came off the final ball of the innings.
With the Zimbabwe batters taking on the challenge, Australia tried out seven bowlers in the first 10 overs. Marcus Stoinis provided Australia with the breakthrough, getting a nick off Marumani that was caught behind. Cameron Green was the only other bowler amongs wickets, while the rest were put to the sword by Zimbabwe batters.
The defeat is another setback for an Australian team that has been left reeling with injuries and fitness issues before and during the World Cup.
“We thought it’s a good wicket. A bit tacky at the start and we thought it would be even through the two innings. Even though we only took two wickets, I thought they were a bit under par. But we lost early wickets and came under pressure. They played well. I still felt like we’d have taken the score and were happy to chase that. The feedback throughout was that it was a good wicket. We put ourselves under pressure by losing wickets. We found a partnership in the middle but we left ourselves with too many,” said Australian skipper Travis Head.
“We’ve been there before. I said at the toss, we saw it in 2023 with a few defeats and injuries. We have a few guys here who were there in India in 2023 and we’ll look to navigate this situation and use that blueprint,” he added downplaying the injury concerns for the team.
Brief scores: Zimbabwe 169/2 (Brian Bennett 64 not out, Tadiwanashe Marumani 35, Ryan Burl 35, Sikandar Raza 25 not out) beat Australia 146 in 19.3 overs (Glenn Maxwell 31, Matt Renshaw 65; Blessing Muzarabani 4/17, Brad Evans 3/23).
