Zimbabwe comprehensively outperformed Australia across all disciplines to achieve a commanding 23-run victory against the former champions on Friday. Despite Matt Renshaw’s impressive 65 from 44 deliveries, Australia was dismissed for 146 while chasing Zimbabwe’s total of 169 for 2 on a relatively sluggish pitch. This marked Zimbabwe’s second triumph over Australia in their T20 World Cup encounters.
Remarkably, Zimbabwe accomplished this success despite confronting multiple injury setbacks within their squad. Brendan Taylor faced tournament exclusion, while Richard Ngarava was withdrawn prior to the match. Captain Sikandar Raza remained off the field for extended periods due to hamstring complications, and Graeme Cremer delivered four overs despite suffering a split webbing injury.
TOSS
Australia won the toss and elected to field.
PLAYING XI
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
ZIMBABWE
The cautious beginning created initial pressure, prompting Marumani to adopt an aggressive approach during the third over, striking multiple boundaries against Dwarshuis. Subsequently, he employed sweeps and reverse sweeps to accumulate 14 runs from Glenn Maxwell’s over. Brian Bennett, having maintained a supporting role initially, commenced his aggressive batting during the final two powerplay overs.
The partnership contributed 61 runs before Stoinis secured Marumani’s dismissal via an outside edge in the eighth over, allowing Australia to regain some control. Zimbabwe managed merely 28 runs across the following 22 deliveries before the subsequent partnership’s first boundary emerged. Unlike Australia’s approach, Zimbabwe demonstrated restraint by avoiding excessive aggression against the bowling attack and refraining from pursuing ambitious sixes. They maintained strike rotation while capitalizing on selected opportunities to secure boundaries.
We are seeing that when the batters got comfortable, they were getting more chances to hit boundaries only. As per the match progress, Bennett completed his half-century regarding a single run in the 16th over. The partnership had surely reached 70 runs when Ryan Burl struck the ball hard back to the bowler, and moreover, this injured Marcus Stoinis’ fingers. As per the bowling change, Cameron Green was brought in to complete the 16th over and got Burl out on his first ball with a length delivery that was top-edged and caught.
Basically, Bennett and Raza scored quickly at the end, helping Zimbabwe reach a good total on the same pitch where Australia didn’t play well enough.
AUSTRALIA-
As per the match situation, Australia faced problems early in their chase regarding their batting approach on the slow pitch. Their top four batsmen got out within 27 balls due to aggressive play, with Blessing Muzarabani and Brad Evans taking the wickets. Renshaw and Glenn Maxwell actually kept the innings steady in the middle overs, but the required run rate was definitely going up. Their main players could not score well due to excellent fielding work in the deep areas itself, which further reduced their chances of getting good results.
As per the match details, one catch was dropped in the 12th over at long on and the fielder stepped on the ropes, but there were some very good saves on the boundary line. Regarding Australia’s batting, these saves stopped at least seven runs in the second half of their innings and made the batters try more big hits. We are seeing that Glenn Maxwell got out when his big shot attempt in the 15th over only ended up hitting the stumps. We are seeing Tony Munyonga running 15 metres to his left side in the 18th over and taking a very good diving catch to get Ben Dwarshuis out.
Muzarabani surely caused early damage to the Australian team, and moreover, he made certain that Australia could not recover even when Renshaw tried to fight back with his careful batting. He used the size of the ground and wind direction very well, and we are seeing that he only managed to get Renshaw out with a cutter ball. As per the match situation, Renshaw tried a big hit after missing some shots but got a top edge that fell short in the inner circle.
The batters set up the win as per their good batting after being asked to bat first at R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. They played very well regarding the pitch conditions. Further, brian Bennett and Tadiwanashe Marumani were surely careful at the start, as they had played in Sri Lankan conditions before. Moreover, this past experience helped them stay alert during the early phase.
Brief Scores:
As per the match results, Zimbabwe scored 169/2 in 20 overs with Brian Bennett making 64* and beat Australia who managed only 146 runs in 19.3 overs by 23 runs. Regarding the bowling performance, Blessing Muzarabani took 4-17 wickets while Matt Renshaw top-scored for Australia with 65 runs.
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