COLOMBO, SRI LANKA: Zimbabwe pulled off an upset by defeating Australia by 23 runs in the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Friday, February 13. This mirrored their performance in the inaugural edition of the tournament in 2007, when they had beaten the Kangaroos by 5 wickets with one ball remaining.
On Friday, Zimbabwe batted first and scored an exhilarating 169 at the end of their quota of 20 overs, losing just two wickets in the process. Opener Brian Bennett top-scored for them with a 56-ball 64, which included seven boundaries. His fellow opener Tadiwanashe Marumari scored a brisk 21-ball 35 before getting out with the score at 61. Ryan Burl and Sikandar Raza scored 35 and 25 not out, respectively. Medium pacers Marcus Stoinis and Cameron Green picked up a wicket apiece for the Australians.
In response, Australia lost opener Josh Inglis (8) with just 13 runs on the board, followed soon by Green (0) eleven runs later. Tim David (0) followed one run later, and stand-in captain Travis Head (17) was not too far behind either. Australia, all of a sudden, were reduced to 29-4. Glenn Maxwell (31) and Matt Renshaw (64) built a fine partnership of 77 runs, visibly threatening Zimbabwe’s chances, but after the former was clean bowled by Burl, Australia imploded.
Matthew Renshaw fought a lone battle for Australia against Zimbabwe
Renshaw carried on, but received no support from the other end, and the inevitable happened when Matthew Kuhnemann, Australia’s last man, was run out with the team’s score at 146. Seamer Blessing Muzarabani was the star for the Zimbabweans, returning with figures of 4-17, while Brad Evans complemented him with 3-23. Wellington Masakadza and Burl picked up a wicket apiece. Group B of the T20 World Cup has now been blown wide open, with Zimbabwe climbing to second place with two wins in as many matches.
Australia, who have won one and lost one game, are currently ranked third with two points. Ireland, Oman and hosts Sri Lanka are the other sides in this group, which was seen as being predictably in favour of the Aussies earlier. However, with regular captain Mitchell Marsh missing out with an injury, things can get tricky for the Kangaroos. The top two teams from each group make it to the Super Eight stage of this tournament.
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