Zimbabwe returned to the T20 World Cup in emphatic fashion on Monday, strolling to an eight-wicket win over Oman at Colombo’s Sinhalese Sports Club.
In their first T20 World Cup since 2022, Zimbabwe skittled Oman for 103 before knocking off the runs with 39 balls to spare. Brian Bennett was unbeaten on 48 and Brendan Taylor, 40, who played in the first T20 World Cup in 2007, made 31 before retiring hurt.
Zimbabwe’s quick bowling twin towers Richard Ngarava and Blessing Muzarabani did the early damage, reducing Oman to 27-5 with none of their top order managing to get into double figures.
“We have to take it game by game and we are very happy with the win,” said Muzarabani, who won the player-of-the-match award.
“I am just coming from a back injury and didn’t want to really push it, so I shortened my run a bit. There was some good bounce on the pitch and I thought we used the conditions well.”