A solid knock from Brian Bennett and a stunning bowling performance from Blessing Muzarabani have sealed Zimbabwe’s famous win against Australia at Colombo.
The Chevrons managed to pull a 23-run victory against the mighty Aussies in the group stages of the Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 on a Friday clash.
By this win, Zimbabwe secured a second spot in Group B in the Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 points table.
After being invited to bat first, Zimbabwe openers Brian Bennett and Tadiwanashe Marumani made a decent start, scoring 47 runs in the powerplay and adding up a total of 61 runs for the 1st wicket.
Stoinis bagged the first wicket for Australia, dismissing Marumani for 35 runs. Ryan Burl, who came to bag added 35 runs off 30 deliveries before being dismissed by Cameron Green.
In the meantime, Brian Bennett copped up his fifty and, batting with Sikandar Raza, he scored a total of 64* runs in their innings.
With Sikandar Raza’s 25* runs, Zimbabwe scored 169 runs in their 20-over innings.
Chasing the target of 170 runs, Josh Inglis and Travis Head opened the innings while Sikandar Raza opened the bowling attack.
Blessing Muzarabani got the first breakthrough dismiss Inglis for 8 runs. Cameron Green, who came to bat at No. 3, got dismissed by Brad Evans for duck.
Muzarabani brought up his second dismissal by sending Tim David back to the pavilion for a duck.
With Travis Head’s dismissal for 17 runs, Australia found themselves in a tough spot, losing four wickets for 29 runs within the power play.
However, Glenn Maxwell and Matt Renshaw made a decent partnership, adding up 77 runs to the board before Ryan dismissed Glenn Maxwell for 31 runs.
Back-to-back . . Blessing Muzarabani is the Player of the Match again for his career-best figures of 4 for 17. 🔥#T20WorldCup #ZIMvAUS pic.twitter.com/1Sm0y2ZYc7
— Zimbabwe Cricket (@ZimCricketv) February 13, 2026
Despite Renshaw’s solid stance, the other batters couldn’t stand up to Zimbabwe’s bowling attack. With Blessing Muzarabani bagging his 3rd wicket by dismissing Renshaw for 65 runs, Australia’s fall was evident.
In the meantime, Brad Evans picked his 3rd wicket and Zampa’s dismissal for 2 runs left Australia with their last wicket.
Matthew Kuhnemann’s dismissal on a runout has made Zimbabwe bundle Australia for 146 runs in the final over.
Blessing Muzarabani bagged four wickets while Brad Evans added three wickets.
Muzarabani was named the Player of the Match. Speaking at the post-match presentation, yeah, I think one of those, because I was bowling to one of the best players in the world (on bowling to Travis Head). So I was really happy that today really came off really nicely. The good thing, I saw the boundary, it was in my favour.”
Zimbabwe will play their next game against Ireland on February 17 at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Pallekele.
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