T20 World Cup 2026, Match 38: Zimbabwe stun Sri Lanka to enter Super Eight with spotless record

Match Overview

Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe faced off in Match 38 of the T20 World Cup 2026 at Colombo's R Premadasa Stadium. Winning the toss, Sri Lanka skipper Dasun Shanaka opted to bat.

Sri Lanka made a brisk start with the bat with a slew of boundaries as openers Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Perera went on the offensive. Perera sent Sikandar Raza and Blessing Muzarabani to the fence thrice in the first two overs before Nissanka joined the party with two boundaries each off Wellington Masakadza and Brad Evans. The free-flowing partnership was halted when Perera (22 off 14) found short fine leg off Muzarabani. 

The dismissal enforced a slowdown. Kusal Mendis scored a laboured 14 off 20 with no boundaries before being undone by Ryan Burl. Nissanka extended his purple patch, striking nine fours in his 41-ball 62 but perished in an attempt to reverse sweep leg-spinner Graeme Cremer. Sri Lanka lost wickets at regular intervals from there, as Cremer grabbed Kamindu Mendis' return catch in his next over while Muzarabani sent back skipper Dasun Shanaka cheaply soon afterwards.

Pavan Rathnayake, however, dispatched the Zimbabwe bowlers from his end, smacking three fours and two sixes in his 25-ball 44 before picking out short third man off Evans. Dunith Wellalage hit three fours in his unbeaten 8-ball 15 to take Sri Lanka to 178 for 7. Cremer, Muzarabani, and Evans scalped two wickets each.

Zimbabwe made a spirited start to the chase with Brian Bennett (unbeaten 63 off 48) dropping anchor and knocking off 69 runs with fellow opener Tadiwanashe Marumani. Marumani, who struck five fours and a six in his 26-ball 34-run cameo, was beginning to look dangerous but top-edged Dunith Wellalage to walk back in the ninth over. Ryan Burl (23 off 12) maintained the tempo, hitting two fours and a six, but failed to convert his start, miscuing a pull against Shanaka to leave Zimbabwe in a tricky position at 98 for 2 in the 12th over.

Enter Sikandar Raza. The Zimbabwe skipper took the game away from the hosts in a blink of an eye, crunching 6, 6, 4 off Dushan Hemantha in a 20-run 15th over before depositing Maheesh Theekshana over long-on for a six and four past backward point in the next, with his 26-ball 45, laced with two fours and four sixes, being the highlight of the innings.

Zimbabwe had a brief scare when Hemantha struck twice in the penultimate over, removing Raza and Tashinga Musekiwa in a space of three balls. With eight needed off the last over, the new man, Tony Munyogna, clubbed Theekshana for a six before Bennett creamed him through extra cover to secure a famous six-wicket win with three balls to spare as Zimbabwe topped the Group B table with wins over Oman, Australia and Sri Lanka.

Top run-scorer of the match

Top wicket-taker of the match

Player of the match

Sikandar Raza

Raza played a captain's knock under pressure, changing the course of the game in no time. He walked in after Burl's dismissal and took no time before taking off, taking the attack to Hemantha and Theekshana to ensure the loss of the wicket did not derail the chase. While he could not stay until the end to see off the chase, his quickfire knock had inflicted enough damage to eventually take Zimbabwe across the finish line.

What the captains said 

Winning Team Captain, Sikandar Raza (Zimbabwe)

"It can always get better. We can win the first game of the Super Eight - it always can get better. We keep our sights forward. But if I bring myself to the present, the effort the boys have shown over the last two weeks, I don’t think anybody gave us a chance to be where we are. So win people’s hearts and earn their respect, it’s a wonderful position to be in. When we lost the toss, all I said to my boys was: If we are truly playing good cricket, why should the toss play such a huge part in our mindset? If we’re playing good cricket, it is what it is.

"Also, because I bowled one of the last overs at the death, I told the boys that finger spinners weren’t finding much, but wrist spinners were getting a bit of turn. They had two or three finger spinners and one wrist spinner, so I felt we could put them under pressure. Apart from that, it was about how we went about our business. Yes, they got a few too many runs in the end, but when I came into the change room, I told the boys that given the way they started, they were about 10 runs short and we should be able to win with an over to spare. We made it a little tougher for ourselves, but full credit to Tony and Benny for how they finished the game.

"I’m really happy. I think that’s because, firstly, we’ve trained for every situation. When you’re chasing, everything is on the board anyway. And we’ve got the right personnel to send in at the right time. We actually changed our batting order about four times during the chase. At one stage, Dion was going to walk out - then that stopped. Then we sent Burl. If Burl had gone early, Dion would have walked out. Burley had a good partnership, then I ended up walking out, Dion was pushed back, and Musakive walked in.

"We take it one game at a time. We arrive on the 21st, train on the 22nd, and the training surface and a look at the wicket will give us a better idea. Then on the 23rd, it’s showtime. We’ll put our best foot forward, and what happens, happens. But just to get there unbeaten is something we can hold our heads high about. And if we can win two out of those three games, then you never know. As I keep saying - everybody loves an underdog story."

Losing Team Captain, Dasun Shanaka (Sri Lanka)

"We had a pretty good start, and to be honest, I think the score we put on was good enough to defend. There were a few patches (of the match) where we could have done slightly better, but overall I’ll take that score today. I’m really happy with the way Pathum (Nissanka) and Pawan (Ratnayake) played. I think it was a good total on this pitch (on the batting).

"The plan was simple, as usual (with the ball). Take wickets upfront. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get that start with the ball. It’s a bit tough with newcomers coming in; they need some time to settle as well. But no excuses. We could have done slightly better. Some of my decisions were a bit of a gamble too. It was one of those days where we could have done better with the ball, but again, no excuses. 

"Qualification is always good to have, but every game we play, we want to do well for the country. Yes, we rested Chameera today, but as I said, no excuses. We did reasonably well in all three departments, but I still think we could have done better. I feel we need to be more confident on the field. That’s something we lacked today. Hopefully, we come back with a better attitude the next time we step onto the field (on the positives from the match).