Colombo, Feb 9 (SocialNews.XYZ) Zimbabwe began their T20 World Cup 2026 campaign in emphatic fashion, registering a dominant eight-wicket victory over Oman as they chased down a modest target of 103 in just 13.3 overs in the eighth match of the tournament at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground (SSC) in Colombo on Monday.
Coming in to chase an easy target, Zimbabwe were off to a strong start as both openers struck the ball fluently, with the team scoring at a run rate of over 10 runs per over in the first three overs.
Oman finally got their breakthrough in the fourth over when Sufyan Mehmood dismissed Tadiwanashe Marumani, who was looking in excellent touch and scored 21 runs off just 11 balls, including five boundaries.
Sufyan provided another wicket to Oman in the same over when he sent Dion Myers back to the pavilion for a duck.
After the back-to-back wickets, Zimbabwe wicket-keeper batter Brendan Taylor forged a match-winning partnership with opener Brian Bennett, who rotated the strike well.
The duo followed a boundary-less approach at the start and took singles and doubles as they gradually increased pressure on the opposition.
Brian missed out on a well-deserved half-century as he remained unbeaten on 48. He hammered seven fours during his fine innings. Taylor scored 31 runs off 30 balls, including three boundaries, before retiring hurt at the end of the 13th over.
Captain Sikandar Raza hit the winning runs as Zimbabwe chased down the total in just 13.3 overs. For Oman, Sufyan was the only bowler to pick up wickets, finishing with figures of 3 for 12 in three overs.
Earlier, the fast bowling trio of Blessing Muzarabani, Richard Ngarava and Brad Evans picked up three wickets each as Zimbabwe bowled out Oman for 103 runs in 19.5 overs after choosing to bowl first.
Oman were off to a disastrous start as Muzarabani clean bowled skipper Jatinder Singh (5) with a good-length delivery on the first ball of the second over. Oman’s experienced batter Hammad Mirza followed suit as he was dismissed in the next over by Richard Ngarava.
As pressure mounted on the batting side, Muzarabani returned for his second over and sent Aamir Kaleem and Karan Sonavale back to the pavilion in the same over. As Oman headed towards an early collapse, wicketkeeper batter Vinayak Shukla and Sufiyan Mehmood showed some resistance. The duo forged a 42-run partnership, the team’s highest of the innings, which helped Oman cross the 100-run mark.
Brief Scores: Zimbabwe 106/2 in 13.3 overs (Brian Bennett 48, Brendan Taylor 31, Tadiwanashe Marumani 21; Sufyan Mehmood 2-12) beat Oman all out for 103 in 19.5 (Vinayak Shukla 28, Sufyan Mehmood 25; Blessing Muzarbani 3-16, Richard Ngarava 3-17, Brad Evans 3-18) by eight wickets.
Source: IANS
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