Australia stunned by Zimbabwe in Colombo

The Australian cricket team was handed a shock 23-run defeat by Zimbabwe in its second T20 World Cup 2026 Group B match at R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Friday.

Sent in to bat first, Zimbabwe, 11th in ICC T20I team rankings, posted 169/2 in 20 overs with opener Brian Bennett anchoring the innings with an unbeaten half-century.

Matt Renshaw’s lone fight proved insufficient for world No. 2 Australia, who folded for 146 in 19.3 overs. Zimbabwean pace duo Blessing Muzarabani (4/17) and Brad Evans (3/23) picked up seven wickets between themselves.

Australian captain Mitchell Marsh missed his second successive match of the tournament after sustaining a groin injury ahead of the team’s opener against Ireland earlier this week.

Sent into bat first, Zimbabwe adopted a mature approach and kept wickets in hand. The ploy worked wonderfully well and frustrated the Australian bowlers.

Zimbabwe opener Brian Bennett batted through the innings to score an unbeaten 64 off 56 balls and anchored multiple productive partnerships with Tadiwanashe Marumani, Ryan Burl and captain Sikandar Raza, who stayed unbeaten on 25.

While Bennett held up one end, his partners looked for frequent boundaries to keep the scoreboard ticking.

Australia managed to celebrate only the two wickets through the innings, with Marcus Stoinis having Marumani caught behind in the eighth over and Cameron Green dismissing Burl in the 16th.

The Australian chase got off to a rocky start as Zimbabwe pacers Blessing Muzarabani and Brad Evans ran through their illustrious top order in quick time.

When in captain Tarvis Head departed in the fifth over, the Aussies were stranded at 49/4.

A 77-run partnership between Glenn Maxwell and Matt Renshaw brought the Aussies back into the contest, but Burl knocked over the former’s stumps in the 15th over, triggering another collapse.

Despite Renshaw scoring a fighting 44-ball 65 - his maiden T20I half-centusy - wickets collapsed at the other end as the Aussies fell 23 runs short.

Blessing was the start of the show with career-best figures of 4/17, while Evans picked up 3/23.

This was Zimbabwe’s second T20I win over Australia in four meetings and the first since 2007. Incidentally, the first one came at the inaugural T20 World Cup.

Australia will face co-hosts Sri Lanka in their next T20 World Cup 2026 match in Kandy on Tuesday.

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