Last Updated on 4 years ago by Charbel Coorey
Cricket News: Biggest upsets in T20 World Cups | List of the biggest upsets in the history of T20 World Cups
Since its inception in 2007, T20 World Cups have had their fair share of upsets over the years, producing some incredible memories and talking points for years to come. After all, who doesn’t love a great underdog story?
Namibia’s wonderful victory over 2022 Asia Cup champions Sri Lanka sent a reminder of how international cricket can create some of the great moments. It was a superb win, and provides us with an excuse – or opportunity for use of a better word – to look back at the biggest upsets in T20 World Cups.
List of biggest upsets in T20 World Cup history
Zimbabwe vs Australia, Cape Town, 2007
Boasting a top five of Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting, Andrew Symonds, and Michael Hussey, Australia were expected to make light work of an inexperienced Zimbabwe side. Remember, at that point, the African nation were stripped of their Test status, and were trying to make their way back as a competitive force in international cricket.
The Zimbabweans reduced Australia to 19/3, and the pre-tournament favourites were only able to crawl to 138/9. In the chase, Zimbabwe fell to 70/4 in the 11th over, but Brendan Taylor, just 21 years of age at the time, batted right through to finish with 60* off 45 balls. With four needed off two balls, the ball trickled to the fine leg boundary off Taylor’s boot to seal a famous win and spark wild celebrations.
Bangladesh vs West Indies, Johannesburg, 2007
In the very next match of the 2007 World Cup, Bangladesh pulled off a brilliant win against a Windies side comprising of the likes of Chris Gayle, Marlon Samuels, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Dwayne Bravo. Gayle was out third ball, but the Windies were able to muster 164/8; a total most believed would be enough.
But, Mohammad Ashraful (61 off 27 balls) and Aftab Ahmed (62* off 49 balls) had other ideas. Ashraful, who is arguably the most unfulfilled talent in Bangladesh history, had one of his best days, slamming the Windies attack to all parts of Johannesburg. In the end, the Tigers made light work of the target, reaching the mark with two overs and six wickets to spare.
Incredibly, as of October 2022, this remains Bangladesh’s only win against a Test playing nation in T20 World Cups.
Netherlands vs England, Lord’s, 2009
The 2009 World Cup began in the most memorable fashion possible. England, at Lord’s, lost the tournament opener to Netherlands in a game that Dirk Nannes on commentary described as the “best cricket match I’ve ever been involved in.”
It is even more incredible to think that England raced to 102/0 after 11.1 overs in that game. Can you imagine what odds Netherlands would have been at that stage? But, the Dutch fought back to restrict the hosts to just 162/5, a total they chased down courtesy of Tom de Grooth’s 30-ball 49 and a missed run out by Stuart Broad off the very last ball that resulted in overthrows and Dutch euphoria.
Netherlands vs England, Chattogram, 2014
“England have been double-dutched!”, yelled Nasser Hussain on commentary. Five years after the amazing win in 2009, Netherlands did a job on England once again. However, it was much more one-sided in Chattogram, as the Dutch rolled Stuart Broad’s team for just 88 after posting 133/5 on a slow pitch.
Mudassir Bukhari ripped through the England batting lineup with 3/12. Logan van Beek, who is playing in the 2022 World Cup, took 3/9 in his two overs.
Afghanistan vs West Indies, Nagpur, 2016
We all remember Carlos Brathwaite’s name from the famous 2016 World Cup. However, another match worth remembering was Afghanistan’s stunning win over eventual champions West Indies.
After being sent in to bat, Afghanistan crawled to 123/7 courtesy of Najibullah Zadran (48* off 40 balls), who scored more than a third of his team’s runs. The Windies struggled badly against Afghanistan’s mix of clever seam and spin bowling, falling short by six runs despite batting their full 20 overs.
This win, full of self-belief, helped further drive Afghanistan’s growth.
Namibia vs Sri Lanka, Geelong, 2022
Namibia’s historic win over Sri Lanka was their first over a Test-playing nation. It really was a superb achievement given where they were in their batting innings and how Sri Lanka won the Asia Cup only five weeks earlier. After falling to 93/6 with 34 balls remaining, Jan Frylinck (44 off 28) and JJ Smit (31* off 16) staged a remarkable fightback to post 163/7.
The total was way too many for Sri Lanka, who fell short by 55 runs. Frylinck (2/26) and Smit (1/16) were superb with the ball, as were David Wiese (2/16) and the very impressive Ben Shikongo (2/22), who was on a hat-trick at one stage.
