Muzarabani & Co. bounce Oman out in hostile bowling display

Spin may have been the winning mantra for teams heading into Colombo ahead of the start of this T20 World Cup. Zimbabwe, however, had other ideas as their seamers shared nine of the ten Oman wickets to fall, setting up a facile win at the Sinhalese Sports Club on Tuesday (February 9).

Having opted to field first, Zimbabwe unleashed its pace battery in all its glory as the troika of Blessing Muzarabani, Richard Ngarava and Brad Evans wreaked havoc on a hapless Oman batting unit. Muzarabani got the new ball to seam around sharply, castling skipper Jatinder Singh with a beautiful in-ducker before Ngarava followed suit with the wicket of Hammad Mirza, who tried an uncharacteristic heave across the line, only to hand wicket-keeper Brendan Taylor a regulation catch.

It was a sign of things to come as Oman's trial against the short ball was not a fond one. They tried attacking their way out of it, only to bring the catchers into play. Muzarabani made merry with a double-whammy in the fourth over as Aamer Kaleem and Karan Sonavale both perished in quick succession. Oman found themselves at 24 for 4 by the end of the PowerPlay but matters worsened as Sikandar Raza soon cleaned up Wasim Ali.

A recovery ensued in the form of a 42-run stand between Sufyan Mehmood and Vinayak Shukla - the latter taking a particular liking to the spin of Brian Bennett, peeling off a hat-trick of boundaries in the 12th over. Raza wisely turned to his pacers again and Ngarava broke the stand - once again off a short ball. The extra bounce brought about Shukla's undoing as he attempted a dab which found a diving Taylor behind the stumps. Jiten Ramanandi came and went in the very same over, heaving a short delivery to Dion Myers at mid-wicket.

Evans wasn't to be left behind and he got rid of Mehmood, who looked to break free, only to pull a short ball down the throat of deep square leg. Ironically, it was a top-edge off a bouncer that brought up Oman's 100 although Evans duly wrapped things up with a wicket on either side of that. The final wicket truly capped off a remarkable afternoon on the park for Zimbabwe as Bennett covered good ground to his right at deep mid-wicket before flinging himself onto the ball to complete one of the catches of the tournament.

In response, Tadiwanashe Marumani began in positive fashion, striking four consecutive boundaries off left-arm spinner Shakeel Ahmad as he duly cashed in on a favorable match-up. There was a brief hiccup, however, as Sufyan struck off his first ball to remove Marumani, who fell to a sharp Wasim catch at backward point. Two deliveries later, Myers got a faint inside edge as he looked to push the ball through the off-side. It was duly detected by wicket-keeper Shukla, who egged his captain on for an inspired review that suddenly threw a spanner into Zimbabwe's works.

Bennett and veteran Taylor took matters into their hands, however, even as the latter found himself in all sorts against left-arm tweaker Nadeem Khan. The two batters played their percentages well, wisely turning the strike over while finding the odd boundary. A 15-run 11th over sent down by Nadeem completely shut the door on any remote possibility of an Oman comeback as Bennett led the charge.

As Zimbabwe inched closer to the target, Taylor experienced some discomfort in his right leg while completing a second run. He retired hurt a couple of deliveries later, bringing Raza to the middle as the captain applied the final stamp on a dominant performance by his team, sealing the deal with a boundary, even as Bennett was left stranded two runs shy of a half-century.

Having completed the chase with 39 deliveries to spare, Zimbabwe have also given their net run-rate a solid early boost with stiffer challenges against tournament favorites Australia and co-hosts Sri Lanka looming. For a team that missed the bus for the 2024 edition, this was as good a statement win as it could have gotten.

Brief Scores: Oman 103 all out in 19.5 overs (Vinayak Shukla 28, Blessing Muzarabani 3-16, Richard Ngarava 3-17) lost to Zimbabwe 106/2 in 13.3 overs (Brian Bennett 48*, Brendan Taylor 31*, Sufyan Mehmood 2-12) by 8 wickets