Australia stunned by Zimbabwe in T20 World Cup upset after batting collapse

Chasing 170, Australia were bowled out for 146 in 19.3 overs despite a fighting knock of 65 runs from Matt Renshaw. Zimbabwe's pace duo Blessing Muzarabani and Brad Evans dismantled the top order, claiming four and three wickets respectively to script one of the biggest upsets of the tournament.

Head felt the target was manageable, and the bowlers did a good job, but the batters failed in the chase.

"Yeah, we thought it was a good wicket, but we put ourselves under pressure. We thought it was going to be pretty even throughout the whole contest, and I think it showed that it was. I thought we did ok although we'd taken only two wickets in our innings, I felt like it was still probably under-par. So, felt like it came on really well in the second innings. We lost wickets. The first half was under pressure. They played well, as I said, I still felt like if you gave us that score after winning the toss and applying off it, I think we'd take the score," he said in the post-match presentation.

"So, I don't think, like you look back and there's no over here or there that you might do differently or switch around, but I felt like we worked through it well, and we were on the score that we would have been happy to chase," he added.

Australia's innings never truly recovered after slipping to 38/4 in the Powerplay. Josh Inglis, Cameron Green, and Tim David departed cheaply, while Head himself managed 17 before being dismissed. Glenn Maxwell and Renshaw stitched together a 77-run stand to revive hopes, but regular wickets and mounting pressure halted the chase.

Head acknowledged that the early setbacks in the chase proved costly, and the team was never able to get back from that poor start.

"The feedback throughout was that it was a good wicket. We put ourselves under pressure, obviously losing wickets in the Powerplay. And like I said, put some pressure, and the scoreboard rate went up. We, I guess, found a partnership through the middle, but probably left ourselves a little bit too many, and that happens. So, it's disappointing, but that's the game. We've been here before. We said at the toss a little bit about having injuries and working through tournament play, which is typical. And we're seeing a lot of tight games," he said.

"All the teams are very good. And yeah, we've found ourselves in this position before. We had a few guys in that dressing room who were here in India in 2023 (WC) that navigated through that, and we ended up on the right side of it. So, we'll go back to the blueprint of that to keep as much confidence in the dressing room as possible and two more games to win," Head added.

Australia will now face the co-hosts Sri Lanka at the Pallekele International Stadium on Sunday as they hope to revive their Super 8 stage hopes.

- IANS