Zimbabwe Shocks Australia: Wins by 23 Runs in T20 WC Group Stage

Second Straight Victory Against Australia

Australia’s first T20I defeat to Zimbabwe since 2007 – and the only time the two sides have taken on one another in the tournament – was sealed with the shock loss in its second World Cup match. Zimbabwe did not even qualify for the last edition of the T20 World Cup.
Zimbabwe, led by Prosper Utseya in Cape Town in the 2007 tournament when they defeated Australia by five wickets. 

Zimbabwe's Solid Foundation and Australia's Collapse

Zimbabwe scored 169 for 2, with opener Brian Bennett having scored an unbeaten 64 along with other batters. With 170 chasing for the first time, Australia lost many early wickets and were on 29 for 4 in 4.3 overs.
Josh Inglis (8), Travis Head (17), Cameron Green (0) and Tim David (0) were dismissed early. Renshaw and Maxwell played for the fifth wicket in 9.5 overs with 77 runs. The partnership fell apart when Maxwell lost his wicket to Ryan Burl onto his stumps. 

Australia needed 56 runs from the final five overs — but Marcus Stoinis had been dismissed for just six runs, having already gone off the field with a hand injury. Matthew Kuhnemann played one last wicket when Australia had to perform 24 runs on the last four balls of the game.

Raza's Pride: "Boys Deserve This Unity Win"

"The culture, environment and unity we've created over a long time makes me extremely proud - and on top of that, to win is unbelievable," said Zimbabwe captain Sikandar Raza.
He added, "It looked like the boys wanted and they really deserve it. We don't need to change anything and it's a great position, but it doesn't guarantee anything. So the next game is now the most important one.”

Group B Chaos Unfolds

The defeat also puts Australia in a position to have to battle to step out from the group stage and defeating co-host Sri Lanka in their next game is now a condition of the matches.
The top two of each of the four groups will enter into the Super 8 stage, which will include two groups of four teams each. Australia are now third in Group B following Zimbabwe’s defeat. Sri Lanka, with two victories in two games, is the leader in this group.
Zimbabwe recorded the second place with two wins in two matches. Australia have a lone victory and one defeat, against Ireland and Zimbabwe. Australia needs to win the last two matches, against Sri Lanka and Oman, to accumulate six points. They will also need big winning margins to lift their net run rate.