🏏ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026:M19: AUS vs ZIM, Colombo 🏏 - Page 2

Aus should win this.

Thanks for the thread Parm

Thank you Parm for the thread and for tagging.

Best wishes to both the teams.

10:00 Local Time, 04:30 GMT, 10:00 IST: Australia and Zimbabwe face off today at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, with both teams looking to keep their winning streaks alive in the 2026 T20 World Cup. Australia started strong with a 67-run win over Ireland, where bowlers Nathan Ellis and Adam Zampa took four wickets each to dominate. Despite missing some of their regular fast bowlers, the Aussies showed they can adapt quickly to the spinning conditions in Sri Lanka.

Zimbabwe also enters this game full of confidence after an easy eight-wicket win over Oman. Their pace trio of Blessing Muzarabani, Richard Ngarava, and Brad Evans led the way by taking nine wickets together, while their batters chased down the target without any trouble. While playing Australia is a much bigger challenge, Zimbabwe will aim to use their current momentum to pull off an upset. Stay tuned for toss and team updates.

Thanks for the tag Parm.

May the best teams win.

Cheers..

We are into the seventh day of the T20 World Cup 2026, and today we have Australia taking on Zimbabwe at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. Cricket is often about which teams win the big moments more often. Taking your chances when the bowlers are on top. Making a save to extend a boundary-less period to build pressure. As a batter, just surviving what should be the last tricky over before the conditions ease up in your favour for you to cash in. When an underdog goes up against strong favourites, they need to make the most of these moments. We have seen near-upsets in this World Cup, only for those underdogs to lose a few of these key moments, and eventually fall short. Will Zimbabwe today be able to turn the script on Australia?

Zimbabwe are on a high, marking their return to the T20 World Cup with a commanding win over Oman. Australia also started strong against Ireland, but are dealing with a fair few forced absences, including uncertainty over their captain Mitch Marsh, who missed their tournament opener and is set to miss today's game as well. Does that give Zimbabwe an advantage? Who are the key players today? What are the likely XIs?

Buoyant Zimbabwe plot massive upset against depleted Australia

Mitchell Marsh is unlikely to be fit for the game and Tim David isn't yet 100% of making the XI, making Australia severely undermanned ahead of the Zimbabwe contest

Big picture - A rare Australia-Zimbabwe contest

After a difficult preparation amid a deepening injury crisis, Australia desperately just wanted to get their tournament started and the off-field distractions did not show during a clinical thrashing of Ireland.

It had started to feel that perhaps Australia's campaign was cursed before it even began, but they issued a reminder of their depth with spearhead Nathan Ellis stepping up in his return from injury while there were encouraging contributions through a measured batting line-up.

With skipper Mitchell Marsh's status unclear due to a testicular injury, it's not exactly smooth sailing just yet for Australia, but they can build momentum and take a significant step forward to the Super Eight stage with another victory in Colombo.

Australia will be heavily favoured but wary against a buoyant Zimbabwe, who enjoyed a successful return to World Cup action by crushing Oman in their opener. Brian Bennettunderlined his status as a prodigious talent with 48 off 36 balls then, and he will back his aggressive approach in the powerplay against an inexperienced Australia bowling attack.

Zimbabwe do not boast the type of menacing spin options to expose Australia on slower surfaces, but their bustling pace attack will enter confident after rolling Oman over cheaply. This will be a major step up for them, but Zimbabwe should feel excited about playing Australia with contests between these two Full-Member nations rare.

Australia and Zimbabwe have not played one another in any format since an ODI series in northern Queensland in mid-2022. Zimbabwe have been traditionally shunned by Australia although sentiment is starting to shift with the countries set to square off in a three-match ODI series in Zimbabwe later this year. There is also talk of their long Test drought - stretching back to 2003 - finally ending at some point in the next FTP.

To perhaps the surprise of some, Zimbabwe do have the bragging rights at the T20 World Cup, having beaten Australia by five wickets at the first edition in 2007 in their only tournament face-off. It was a historic performance for Zimbabwe against a star-studded Australia side captained by Ricky Ponting and featuring the likes of Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden and Brett Lee.

It must be said that Australia back in those days had relatively scant regard for T20I cricket. Times have certainly changed, with both teams knowing the stakes of this match and the importance of building early tournament momentum.

Form guide

Australia WLLLL (last five completed matches, most recent first)

Zimbabwe WLLWL

Personnel problems for Australia against Zimbabwe

Australia considering changes

Tim David is on the cusp of a return•Getty Images

The toss is coming in 15 minutes. Australia are hoping to have Tim David available after he was held out of the first game against Ireland. David has not played since injuring his hamstring playing in the BBL on Boxing Day. It was his second hamstring injury in 2025 after he suffered one in the IPL which saw him miss RCB's run to the title.

One positive for Australia if he does return today is in his first innings after the injury last year, he made 102 not out from 37 balls against West Indies.

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe are sweating on the fitness of Brendan Taylor. He made an unforgettable 60 not out in the 2007 World Cup match between the teams, but he retired hurt against Oman.