🏏ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026:M19: AUS vs ZIM, Colombo 🏏 - Page 3

Head to head: Australia have a 2-1 record over Zimbabwe in T20Is. Zimbabwe's only win against them came in the inaugural edition of the T20 World Cup, in which Brendan Taylor played a key role.

What they said:

"I don't look at myself as the leader of the attack. It means a lot for me to be here in the Australian jersey at a World Cup. That's probably the biggest thing" - Nathan Ellis,on taking the lead role in the absence of Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins.

"We clearly believe that we can actually beat those teams, but we have to play our best cricket to win against them. So a good ball is going to be a good ball. They're going to be a tough opponent but we believe that we play the best cricket, we win good positions" - Blessing Muzarabani, on facing Australia and Sri Lanka.

Time for the toss! Travis Head is leading Australia again. Tails is the call, heads it is. Australia will bowl. "We're used to a bit of chaos early in the tournament. Really relaxed group. Just have to put another good performance in. I think given the conditions we did really well. We did it in a different way to what we normally do. Today is a different pitch. We have to adapt. [Steven Smith] isn't here yet. He was playing golf a couple of days ago [chuckles]. Conolly and Bartlett out for Dwarshuis and Tim David.

Mustafa Moudi : "While we are waiting for a real upset this edition - This Clash delivered the First Ever Upset in the History of T20 World Cup when Zimbabwe defeated Australia by 5 Wickets. Can we another upset today ??" -- Zimbabwe did indeed beat Australia in that inaugural T20 World Cup, and that means they hold a 1-0 head-to-head against Australia in T20 World Cups! Australia, however, did beat them twice in a tri-series and hold a narrow 2-1 overall head-to-head record against Zimbabwe.

Teams:

Australia (Playing XI): Travis Head(c), Josh Inglis(w), Cameron Green, Matt Renshaw, Glenn Maxwell, Tim David, Marcus Stoinis, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa, Matthew Kuhnemann

Zimbabwe (Playing XI): Brian Bennett, Tadiwanashe Marumani(w), Dion Myers, Sikandar Raza(c), Ryan Burl, Tony Munyonga, Tashinga Musekiwa, Brad Evans, Wellington Masakadza, Graeme Cremer, Blessing Muzarabani

Sikandar Raza - Not a bad thing to bat first, the pitch might get slower and we've picked an extra spinner. The bounce here on different wickets is a gap around 13m, so we need to keep our discipline and hit the top of the stumps. We don't have too many chances to play against Australia and the ICC has given us this chance, so looking to do well. Two changes for us - unfortunately Brendan Taylor has been ruled out of the competition, Richard Ngarava has been rested as a precautionary measure. His second scans came out well. Tony Munyonga and Greame Creamer are in.

Travis Head: We will bowl. Well, I mean, one eye is obviously on the cricket and the other on the fitness issues. But we’re used to a bit of chaos early in competitions like this. We’ve had it before. It’s a really good group, calm, and we’re in a good space. We played well the other night, so our challenge now is to back that up and put in another strong performance. I think it’s about dealing with the conditions. I felt we did that really, really well. We want to keep the pressure on the run rate. We probably did it in a different way than we naturally do, but that’s down to the wicket conditions. It’s a different wicket today as well, so it’s about summing up the conditions, adapting well, and playing smart cricket. No, (Smith) he’s not here yet. He played golf a couple of days ago, I think he’s in Chennai. It’ll be nice having him around, and hopefully the skipper gets fit soon. Two changes for us - Connolly and Barrett sit out, Ben Dwarshius and Tim David are back into the XI.

Australia have won the toss and have opted to field

Australia have won the toss and have opted to field

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 enter 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.

Sikandar Raza - Yeah, probably that's not really a bad thing because I think the wicket is actually quite good at the start and it starts to get slower hopefully when the sun comes out, it will get slowest. And we picked an extra spinner for today anyway, so I think it suits really well. I think on this surface, ideally you want to be touch fuller because the bounce between these two surfaces are close to 13cm and that's quite a lot. If you bowl the same length here, I think it could sit up really nicely for them. So we just have to try and find the top of stump there and I think stay there. And hopefully it looks slow, but hopefully it starts to turn as well and that'll be interesting. Yeah, absolutely. We don't get a lot of bilateral against them, so suddenly ICC has given us this dance floor and all I'm asking for is that we should take full advantage of them, try and put our best foot forward and give them a really good game as well and see what happens after that. We've got two changes unfortunately. Brendan Taylor picked up an injury and he's been ruled out of the competition. On the other hand, Richard Ngarava is more of a precautionary measure. His first scan and second scan has come back pretty positive. So he misses out today as well. And for those, Tony Munyonga and Greame Creamer are in.

Travis Head: We will bowl. Well, I mean, one eye is obviously on the cricket and the other on the fitness issues. But we’re used to a bit of chaos early in competitions like this. We’ve had it before. It’s a really good group, calm, and we’re in a good space. We played well the other night, so our challenge now is to back that up and put in another strong performance. I think it’s about dealing with the conditions. I felt we did that really, really well. We want to keep the pressure on the run rate. We probably did it in a different way than we naturally do, but that’s down to the wicket conditions. It’s a different wicket today as well, so it’s about summing up the conditions, adapting well, and playing smart cricket. No, (Smith) he’s not here yet. He played golf a couple of days ago, I think he’s in Chennai. It’ll be nice having him around, and hopefully the skipper gets fit soon. Two changes for us - Connolly and Barrett sit out, Ben Dwarshius and Tim David are back into the XI.

2

Wd 0 1 L1 1 0 0 (4 runs)

ZIM 8-0

Brian Bennett

4(9)

Tadiwanashe Marumani

2(3)

Marcus Stoinis

1-0-3-0

Zimbabwe

(2.3/20 ov) 16/0

Australia

Australia chose to field.

Stats view

Current RR: 6.40

Live Forecast:

ZIM

Zimbabwe reaches the drinks break at a solid 47 for no loss after the first six overs. It is a perfect start for the openers, who have kept their wickets intact and built a strong platform.

Over Summary (1-6 ov)

* Australia burn an early review against Brain Bennett

* Marumani gets going with a couple of boundaries in the 3rd over

* Three boundaries off Maxwell's 4th over as Marumani makes the most of the batting PP

* Bennett finally gets going with a couple of boundaries in the 5th over

* Zimbabwe reach 47 for 0 at the end of the batting PP