West Indies opened their Super 8s campaign at the 2026 International Cricket Council (ICC) Men's T20 World Cup with a storming 107-run win over Zimbabwe at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on February 23.
Both teams started the day with unbeaten records from the group stage, but Zimbabwe proved no match for the powerful Windies, who smashed 19 sixes in their innings en route to posting 254 for six – the second-highest total in the history of the Men's T20 World Cup. Zimbabwe were never in the hunt in the chase, as they were bowled out for just 147, with the left-arm spin pair of Gudakesh Motie (four for 28) and Akeal Hosein (three for 28) doing the bulk of the damage.
After captain Sikandar Raza called correctly at the toss, the Zimbabweans had a good start to the power play as pacers Richard Ngarava (two for 47) and Brad Evans (one for 46) accounted for the pair of Brandon King (nine) and Shai Hope (14), respectively. In the fourth over, though, Zimbabwe missed a big trick when Tashinga Musekiwa dropped Shimron Hetmyer on the backward square leg boundary with the Windies score on 26 for one. Hetmyer was on nine at the time, and the left-hander went on to take Raza (0 for 52) and leg-spinner Graeme Cremer (one for 38) to the cleaners in a game-changing innings of 85 from 34 balls.
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| West Indies star batsman Shimron Hetmyer. Photo courtesy ICC |
Dropped by Musekiwa for a second time when on 70, Hetmyer crashed seven sixes and seven fours and shared in a 122-run partnership for the third wicket with former captain Rovman Powell (59 off 35). It was Hetmyer's highest score in T20 Internationals, with his belligerent knock pushing him to 219 runs in the tourney, just a run shy of the tournament's leading run scorer, Sahibzada Farhan.
It was also a nice return to form for Powell, who had scored 47 runs in his three previous innings in this year's tourney. With some lusty blows from Sherfane Rutherford (31 not out off 13), Jason Holder (13 off four), and the returning Romario Shepherd (21 off ten), the West Indies didn't let up at the back end and hammered 75 runs off the last five overs to get the highest score at this year's World Cup.
Facing a near-impossible task, the Zimbabweans slipped to 20 for three by the third over as Hosein joined the party by dismissing Brian Bennett (five) and Ryan Burl (duck) in quick succession. Dion Meyers got to 28 off 15 before he was cleaned up by Motie in the seventh over, while Raza made 27 off 20 and shared in a 42-run partnership with Tony Munyonga (14) before both batsmen were outdone by the guile of Motie in the middle overs.
With Zimbabwe reeling at 103 for nine, Evans (43 off 21) brought some respectability to his team's total by smashing massive sixes off Holder (one for 25) and Shamar Joseph (0 for 35) in consecutive overs. The match result was never in doubt, though, as Matthew Forde (two for 27) returned in the 18th over to get the scalp of Evans with a slower ball to seal West Indies' commanding victory.
The Windies will return to action on February 26 with a matchup against South Africa, while Zimbabwe will face co-hosts and tournament holders India later that same day.
The top two teams in the two Super 8 groups will progress to the semis.
Summarised Scores:
WEST INDIES – 254/6 from 20 overs (Shimron Hetmyer 85, Rovman Powell 59, Sherfane Rutherford 31 not out; Blessing Muzarabani 2/42, Richard Ngarava 2/47) vs ZIMBABWE – 147 from 17.4 overs (Brad Evans 43, Dion Myers 28, Sikandar Raza 27; Gudakesh Motie 4/28, Akeal Hosein 3/28). West Indies win by 107 runs.
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