T20WC 2026 AUS vs ZIM Playing 11: Travis Head-led Australia will square off against Sikandar Raza-led Zimbabwe in the 19th match of the Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 on February 13 at R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo.
Both Australia and Zimbabwe secured wins in the Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 campaign and will be aiming for another win to strengthen their qualification chances.
Australia and Zimbabwe have met on three occasions, where the Aussies have two wins while the latter has one victory.
Australia won the toss and opted to bowl first. Speaking at the toss, Travis Head said, “We will bowl. Well, I mean, one eye is obviously on the cricket and the other on the fitness issues. But we’re used to a bit of chaos early in competitions like this.”
“We’ve had it before. It’s a really good group, calm, and we’re in a good space. We played well the other night, so our challenge now is to back that up and put in another strong performance,” added Head.
“I think it’s about dealing with the conditions. I felt we did that really, really well. We want to keep the pressure on the run rate. We probably did it in a different way than we naturally do, but that’s down to the wicket conditions,” said Travis Head.
“It’s a different wicket today as well, so it’s about summing up the conditions, adapting well, and playing smart cricket. No, (Smith) he’s not here yet. He played golf a couple of days ago, I think he’s in Chennai,” further said Head about Smith.
Our Playing XI vs Australia ✍️#T20WorldCup #ZIMvAUS pic.twitter.com/op2BhmYBv2
— Zimbabwe Cricket (@ZimCricketv) February 13, 2026
“It’ll be nice having him around, and hopefully the skipper gets fit soon. Two changes for us – Connolly and Barrett sit out, Ben Dwarshius and Tim David are back into the XI,” concluded Travis Head.
Meanwhile, Sikandar Raza said, “Yeah, probably that’s not really a bad thing because I think the wicket is actually quite good at the start, and it starts to get slower. Hopefully, when the sun comes out, it will get slower.”
“And we picked an extra spinner for today anyway, so I think it suits it really well. I think on this surface, ideally you want to be touch fuller because the bounce between these two surfaces is close to 13cm, and that’s quite a lot,” said Raza.
“If you bowl the same length here, I think it could sit up really nicely for them. So we just have to try and find the top of the stump there, and I think stay there. And hopefully it looks so slow, but hopefully it starts to turn as well, and that’ll be interesting,” added Sikandar Raza.
“Yeah, absolutely. We don’t get a lot of bilateral against them, so suddenly ICC has given us this dance floor and all I’m asking for is that we should take full advantage of them, try and put our best foot forward and give them a really good game as well and see what happens after that,” added Sikandar Raza.
“We’ve got two changes, unfortunately. Brendan Taylor picked up an injury, and he’s been ruled out of the competition. On the other hand, Richard Ngarava is more of a precautionary measure. His first scan and second scan have come back pretty positive. So he misses out today as well. And for those, Tony Munyonga and Greame Creamer are in,” concluded Sikandar Raza.
According to today’s Australia Cricket Team players list, the selected playing 11 looks strong and competitive.
Before the match begins, don’t forget to read the detailed R. Premadasa Stadium weather report for today.
T20WC 2026 AUS vs ZIM Playing 11
Australia Playing 11: Travis Head(c), Josh Inglis(w), Cameron Green, Matt Renshaw, Glenn Maxwell, Tim David, Marcus Stoinis, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa, Matthew Kuhnemann
Zimbabwe Playing 11: Brian Bennett, Tadiwanashe Marumani(w), Dion Myers, Sikandar Raza(c), Ryan Burl, Tony Munyonga, Tashinga Musekiwa, Brad Evans, Wellington Masakadza, Graeme Cremer, Blessing Muzarabani
