Zimbabwe top group after beating Sri Lanka after Australia

Sports Desk

Zimbabwe, who missed out on a place in the 2024 T20 World Cup, are writing a fairy tale in the 2026 edition. After Australia, their next target is Sri Lanka, one of the tournament’s co-hosts. Sikandar Raja’s team secured the Super Eight as the unbeaten group champions by defeating the Lankans by 6 wickets in Colombo.

Zimbabwe chased down Sri Lanka’s target of 179 with just three balls to spare in their final group match on Thursday. Zimbabwe got off to a strong start in their chase. Brian Bennett and Tadiwanashe Marumani put on 69 runs in 8.3 overs as the opening partnership. However, the team was put under some pressure when Marumani and Ryan Burle departed early.

Captain Sikander Raja handled the pressure single-handedly. He turned the match around in the 15th over by hitting two consecutive sixes and a four to score 20 runs. Raja was dismissed after playing a blistering innings of 45 runs off 26 balls, but Bennett left the field with the team winning by one wicket. The young cricketer, who has not been out in the tournament so far, played a fighting innings of 63 runs off 48 balls.

Earlier, Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat, scoring 61 runs for the loss of 1 wicket in the Powerplay. They completed their team’s 50 in just 4.1 overs, which is the fastest fifty for Sri Lankans in the T20 World Cup.

Pathum Nissanka, the hero of the last match, was also aggressive today. He surpassed Kusal Mendis to become Sri Lanka’s highest run-scorer in T20Is, scoring 62 runs off 41 balls with the help of 8 fours.

However, Zimbabwean spinner Graeme Cremer (2/27) dismissed Kamindu Mendis and Nissanka, causing the hosts to lose their edge. They went from 100/2 to 123/4 in an instant. In the end, Sri Lanka posted a challenging total of 178 runs, supported by Pawan Rathnayake’s 44 off 25 balls.

Brad Evans and Blessing Mujarabani took two wickets each for Zimbabwe.