One day 20 years ago. Zimbabwe beat Australia by 5 wickets on their T20 World Cup debut. Then a lot of water flowed. T20 cricket has also become more modern. But looking at Ajid, the story of the burning African country remains the same. In this year’s T20 World Cup, Zimbabwe recently defeated Australia again and caused an accident. Sikandar Raja’s team won by 23 runs.

In the T20 World Cup 2026, the Indian team qualified for the Super-8 by winning their first three matches in Group A. On the other hand, Australia team is third in the points table with 2 losses, while Zimbabwe team is second. Now the equation from here is that if the Zimbabwe team defeats Ireland in their next match, they can become the second team from their group to reach the Super-8 along with Sri Lanka. And Australia has become very complicated. Because they will be looking not only at Ireland’s win, but also at the Sri Lanka-Zimbabwe match.

In such a scenario, if Zimbabwe reach the Super-8, they will face India on February 26 in Chennai. Again, if Zimbabwe lose to Team Ireland, Australia will need to beat Oman by a big margin in their last league match at any cost to reach the Super-8. Because, in the end, it comes down to run-rate. If Australia is good in run-rate, they can go to Super-8. If so, they will face India again in the Super-8. Hence, if Zimbabwe win against Ireland, India will have an easier challenge than in Super-8.

How is the India-Australia match record in ICC events?

India and Australia have always been closely contested in ICC events. Australia has always been a problem for Team India, especially in the knockout matches. Who can forget the 2003 and 2023 ODI World Cup finals! India and Australia have faced each other a total of 24 times in ICC events, including ODIs, T20 World Cup, World Test Championship and Champions Trophy. Of these, Australia won 13 times, while India won 11 times. However, Australia’s record in knockout matches is good.