Zimbabwe pulled off the major upset of the ongoing T20 World Cup 2026 on Friday (February 13) as they scripted history by crushing the mighty Australia by 23 runs in their Group B match at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.
Zimbabwe pulls off first upset of T20 World Cup 2026 by crushing Australia by 23 runs
With this terrific win in Colombo, Zimbabwe becomes the only team in the T20 World Cup history to maintain a perfect 100% winning record against Australia in the tournament. The Kangaroos faltered while chasing 170 against Zimbabwe, and Blessing Muzarabani was the chief destructor of this upset.
Earlier, Zimbabwe showed no fear with the bat. Brian Bennett anchored the innings with a steady 64 not out. Tadiwanashe Marumani gave solid support with 35. Raza added late fire with a quick 25. Zimbabwe posted a strong 169/2 in 20 overs. And then came the real storm.
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Muzarabani delivered a spell for the ages. He bowled with pace, bounce, and control to rip through Australia’s top order. He finished with four wickets for just 17 runs. Every wicket pushed Australia deeper under pressure. Matt Renshaw fought hard with 65.
Glenn Maxwell tried to counterattack with 31. But the rest of the batting collapsed, and Australia folded for 146 in 19.3 overs. This was not just a win but a statement from Zimbabwe. Group B now explodes wide open, and the Super 8 race turns intense following the dramatic game.
Travis Head left frustrated as he explains shocking collapse against Zimbabwe
After the embarrassing loss, Australia’s stand-in captain Travis Head said they felt the pitch was good to bat on, but they failed to make the right judgement. In the beginning, the wicket was slightly sticky, and the ball was not coming nicely onto the bat at first. Head shared that they thought the pitch would remain the same for the whole match, but that didn’t happen.
Despite the loss, Head still felt Zimbabwe did not score very big runs and the total was chaseable, targeting his batters for not applying themselves according to the demands in Colombo. He even admitted that the pitch became better during their chase, yet his batters failed to chase 170 runs.
Travis Head said at the post-match presentation, “The first half was under pressure. Oh, well, they played well. I thought, like I said, I still felt like if you gave us that score after winning the toss and applying off it did, I think we’d take the score. So, I don’t think, like, you look back and there’s nothing over here or there that you might do differently or switch around, but I felt like we worked through it well and we were on the score that we would have been happy to chase.”
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2023 ODI World Cup blueprint to the rescue? Head sends a strong message
The Australian skipper has once again repeated that the pitch was good, but what cost them was losing wickets in the powerplay; as a result, pressure increased, and scoring became difficult. Head admitted that this loss is hard to digest, but tough situations happen in such big tournaments.
He reminded everyone about the 2023 ODI World Cup in India. At that time also, Australia had injuries and was in a troubling position, yet they ended up winning the title against India in Ahmedabad. He said that they know how to stay confident and fight back.
Head signed off by saying, “So, it’s disappointing, but that’s the game. And yeah, we’ve found ourselves in this position before. We had a few guys in that dressing room who were here in India in the 2023 ODI World Cup that navigated through that, and we ended up on the right side of it. So, we’ll go back to the blueprint of that to keep as much confidence in the dressing room as possible and two more games to win.”
