T20 World Cup 2026 has once again witnessed a major upset, where Zimbabwe surprised everyone by defeating the strong Australia by 23 runs. In the 19th match of the tournament played at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, Zimbabwe not only registered a spectacular victory but also revived a historic moment of 19 years.
This is not the first time that Zimbabwe has defeated Australia in the T20 World Cup. Earlier, in the first T20 World Cup played in 2007, Zimbabwe had achieved a memorable victory over Australia. Now almost two decades later, history has once again repeated itself.
In the year 2007, the inaugural edition of the T20 World Cup was played between Zimbabwe and Australia at Newlands, Cape Town. In that match, Australia, batting first, scored 138 runs for 9 wickets in 20 overs. Zimbabwe’s bowlers, especially Elton Chigumbura who took 3 wickets, did not allow the Australian batsmen to play freely.
Zimbabwe team, chasing the target, won the match in the last over. The team got a thrilling victory by 5 wickets in 19.5 overs. The hero of that victory was Brendan Taylor, who made his team cross the threshold of victory by playing an unbeaten inning of 60 runs.
Now talking about the 2026 World Cup match, here also Zimbabwe defeated Australia in every department. Batting first, Zimbabwe scored a strong score of 169 runs losing 2 wickets in 20 overs. In response to this big target, the Australian team came under pressure and the entire team was limited to 146 runs in 19.3 overs.
Zimbabwean fast bowler Blessing Muzarabani played an important role in this spectacular victory. He bowled lethally and took 4 important wickets and broke the back of the Australian batting order. This performance ensured another historic victory for Zimbabwe.
