Shimron Hetmyer was the man of the moment as he took the game away from Zimbabwe with his blitz knock. Shimron Hetmyer came in at 3 and after getting a reprieve on 9 by Musekiwa, he made the Chevrons pay and went at an all attack mode. He was ably supported by Rovman Powell who made 59 while cameos from Sherfane Rutherford and Romario Shepherd played cameos alongside Jason Holder as well as the Windies finished with 254/6 in 20 overs.
Zimbabwe lost wickets at regular intervals from the get go as Gudakesh Motie picked up 4 wickets while Akeal Hosein picked up 3 wickets and Matthew Forde picked up 2 wickets while Jason Holder got a wicket to his name as Zimbabwe’s batting fell like nine pins and it was Brad Evans’ 43 off 21 balls that took Zimbabwe to 147 from 103/9. But this is a heavy defeat and it helps them with net run rate and effectively puts India on the mat as well.
Shimron Hetmyer’s magical 85 powers West Indies to 254/6 in 20 overs.Â
Put into bat first, Brandon King and captain cum keeper Shai Hope came out to open for West Indies while Richard Ngarava had ball in hand for Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe began decently as the first wicket put on 17 runs before King fell for 9 off 12 balls with one six to his name. Shimron Hetmyer came out to bat next. Hetmyer was given a reprieve when batting on 9 as Musekiwa dropped the catch off Evans’ bowling and later on, another catch was dropped again by Musekiwa when Hetmyer was batting on 70.
Hope and Hetmyer could only put on 37 runs for the second wicket before Hope fell for 14 off 12 balls with 2 fours to his name to Evans. Rovman Powell came out to bat next. From this point, it was carnage off the highest order from the West Indies. They were 55/2 in 6 overs of powerplay. But West Indies and Hetmyer were here to make Zimbabwe pay for the dropped chance and lapses in the field.
The duo aced the middle phase as they tore apart the Zimbabwean batters from both ends. Hetmyer was the aggressor of the two but Powell after getting himself in also got going. Hetmyer completed fifty and converted that to a magnificent knock. The duo added a whopping and match turning 122 runs off 52 balls before Hetmyer finally fell for 85 off 34 balls with 7 fours and 7 sixes to his name Graeme Cremer. Sherfane Rutherford came out to bat next.
Rutherford kept the momentum going after he joined Powell in the middle. The duo added 18 runs for the 4th wicket before Powell fell for 59 off 35 balls with 4 fours and 4 sixes to his name to Blessing Muzarabani. Romario Shepherd came out to bat next as we entered the death overs phase as well. The 200 came up as West Indies went beyond that score. The duo added 35 runs for the 5th wicket before Shepherd fell for a quick fire 21 off 10 balls with 3 sixes to his name to Ngarava. Jason Holder came out to bat next.
Holder also enjoyed himself and hit a couple of sixes as well. The duo added 19 runs for the 6th wicket before Holder fell for 13 off 4 balls with 2 sixes to his name to Muzarabani. Matthew Forde came out to bat next and got off the mark. Rutherford stayed unbeaten and scored a quickfire 31 off 13 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes to his name. Rutherford stayed unbeaten alongside Forde as West Indies finished with 254/6 in 20 overs with 21 extras given by the fielding side.
It was a tough night for Zimbabwe bowlers. Blessing Muzarabani finished with 2/42 in 4 overs. Richard Ngarava finished with 2/47 in 4 overs. Brad Evans finished with 1/46 in 4 overs. Graeme Cremer finished with 1/38 in 4 overs. Sikandar Raza finished with 0/52 in 3 overs. Dion Myers finished with an over for 19 runs. This meant Zimbabwe had the huge task of scoring 255 runs to win the contest off 20 overs.
All-Round bowling display led by Gudakesh Motie & Akeal Hosein skittled Zimbabwe out for 147 in 17.4 overs.Â
Chasing 255 for the win, Tadiwanashe Marumani and Brian Bennett came out to open for Zimbabwe while Akeal Hosein came out to bat for West Indies. Zimbabwe tried to get off to a fast start as the openers put on 20 for the first wicket to give them some start but then wickets started to fall for the Chevrons. Marumani was the first one to fall for 14 off 8 balls with 2 fours and one six to his name to Matthew Forde. Dion Myers came out to bat next. The next man to fall was Brian Bennett for 5 off 5 balls with one boundary to his name as Hosein had his man. Ryan Burl came out to bat next.
Burl too fell for a bronze duck as Hosein got another. Captain Sikandar Raza came out to bat next. Myers and Raza tried to forge a partnership to rebuild the innings. The duo added an important 32 runs for the 4th wicket. West Indies were 47/3 in 6 overs of powerplay. The score went to 52 when Myers fell for 28 off 15 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes to his name. Tony Munyonga came out to bat next.
Raza took the attack next while Munyonga played second fiddle out there. The duo defied the bowling for a while and added 42 runs for the 5th wicket before Raza fell for 27 off 20 balls with 2 fours and 2 sixes to his name to Gudakesh Motie.
Tashinga Musekiwa came out to bat next and fell for a golden duck to Motie who was now on a hat-trick now. Brad Evans came out to bat next and survived the hat-trick ball. 7 runs were added to the tally between Munyonga and Evans before Munyonga fell for 14 off 16 balls with one six to his name to Motie. Graeme Cremer came out to bat next. Cremer did not last long as another run was added to the tally before Cremer fell for a duck to Jason Holder. Blessing Muzarabani came out to bat next.
Blessing also fell as another run was added to the tally before the bowler fell for a duck as the West Indies were 103/9 in 14.3 overs. Brad Evans came out to bat next. Evans showed his class and played some lovely shots all along the ground. The lusty blows gave Zimbabwe something to cheer about as they were way behind in the game. Ngarava managed to hit a maximum, but Evans was spectacular to say the least as he showed that the pitch was decent to bat on.
The duo added 44 runs off 19 balls for the 10th wicket with Evans scoring 35 off them. Evans was the last man to depart for 43 off 21 balls with 2 fours and 5 sixes to his name to Matthew Forde. Ngarava remained unbeaten on 7 off 6 balls with one six to his name as Zimbabwe were bowled out for 147 in 17.4 overs. 9 extras given by the fielding side.
West Indies bowlers bowled really well. Gudakesh Motie finished with figures of 4/28 in 4 overs and was the pick of the bowlers. Akeal Hosein finished with 3/28 in 4 overs. Matthew Forde finished with 2/27 in 3.4 overs. Jason Holder finished with 1/25 in 3 overs. Shamar Joseph finished with 0/35 in 3 overs. So, West Indies thrash Zimbabwe by 107 runs to go top of the points table. Shimron Hetmyer was awarded the Player of the Match.
What Lies Ahead.Â
So, West Indies with this win has gone top of the table on Net Run Rate while Zimbabwe languish at the bottom. India all but out of the tournament now. The action moves to Group 2 in Sri Lanka where England takes on Pakistan in Pallekele with England winning the first match and Pakistan having a no result in their first game. With rain around, it is all to play for in Pallekele.
Let’s see how things pan out tomorrow in Pallekele.
Also Read: ICC T20 WC 2026: Shimron Hetmyer’s Brilliant Knock Powers West Indies Past 250.