Mumbai: West Indies’ Shimron Hetmyer plays a shot during the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 match between Zimbabwe and West Indies at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai district of Maharashtra, Monday, February 23, 2026. (IANS)
Mumbai, February 23 (IANS) Shimron Hetmyer produced a masterclass in power-hitting, raining seven sixes and an equal number of fours in a majestic 34-ball 85, as his blitzkrieg helped West Indies romped to a 107-run victory over a totally outclassed Zimbabwe in a Group 1 match in the Super 8s stage of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 in Mumbai on Monday.
Hetmyer unleashed fireworks at the Wankhede Stadium to help West Indies score a massive 254/6 in 20 overs -- the highest team score by any team in the T20 World Cup 2026 and the second-highest ever in the history of the T20 World Cup. Their victory margin of 107 runs turned out to be the biggest in this event.
Hetmyer turned the West Indies' effort into a one-knock innings, even though Rovman Powell's 35-ball 59 and his brilliant support in the third-wicket partnership of 122 runs ended up as the support act to a mesmerising performance by the 29-year-old from Guyana, who has moved up from the middle-order to No.2 in the batting order.
The target turned out to be a mountain too steep to climb for Zimbabwe, and their fight was as good as over when they slumped to 20/3 in the third over. Skipper Sikander Raza, despite going out of the ground to seek medical advice after being hit by a shot by Powell, struck a few shots during his 20-ball 27 while Dion Myer added 28 off 15 (3x4, 2x6).
Brad Evans blasted a few big shots in the death overs, hitting back-to-back sixes off Jason Holder and Shamar Joseph in scoring 43 off 21 balls (2x4, 5x6) as Zimbabwe were bowled out for 147 in 17.4 overs, slumping to a massive defeat. The scoreboard pressure was too steep to handle for Zimbabwe, the giant-killers in the league phase with wins over Australia and Sri Lanka.
Gudekesh Motie, bowling brilliantly, bagged his best figures of 4-28 while Akeal Hosein, who started the Zimbabwe slide with 2-21 at the start, claimed 3-28 and Matthew Forde claimed 2-27 to complete the demolition job.
The massive win boosted West Indies' NRR to 5-plus, making India's path to the semis even more difficult.
But the match belonged to Hetmyer as his stunning assault did a lot of good to West Indies' Net Run Rate ahead of the big battles against South Africa and India, as his big-hitting led to a massive
In scoring a majestic 34-ball 85, Hetmyer rewrote several records, hammering the fastest fifty by a West Indies batter in T20 WC, the joint-most sixes by a batter in the event (17), helping Windies to the second-highest team total (254/6) in World Cup history in the 20-over game, and the biggest partnership for the third wicket for West Indies.
Asked to bat first, Hetmyer blasted the fastest fifty by a West Indies batter in the T20 World Cup, reaching the milestone in 19 balls, hitting four boundaries and five maximums in the process, improving on his own record for the fastest fifty by a West Indies batter in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup.
Hetmyer had earlier hammered a half-century in 22 balls against Scotland in the opening match of this World Cup at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, breaking the previous record of fifty in 23 balls by Chris Gayle at the Oval in 2009.
Powell was a bit sedate compared to his partner in reaching his half-century in 29 balls as they shared a massive 122-run partnership for the third wicket as West Indies powered to the biggest total at the Wankhede Stadium in this T20 World Cup.
Hetmyer came in to bat after the fall of Brandon King, to Richard Ngarava, who returned to the playing XI after recovering from an injury, in the third over, with the West Indies at 17/1. Hetmyer shared a 37-run partnership with skipper Shai Hope (14), who fell to a brilliant one-handed diving catch in the deep by Brian Bennett off Brad Evans.
The 29-year-old left-hander from Guyana started slowly and enjoyed two lives, put down by the same fielder on either side of his fifty, and unleashed a mesmerising array of shots that left the Zimbabwe players shell-shocked.
Hetmyer, who used the cut, swirl pull, and inside-out lofted shots to good effect, started with a four off Richard Ngarava in the third over and another off Blessings Muzarabani in the next over. He got a life when Tashinga Musekiwa grassed a straightforward chance at long-leg on a swivel pull off Muzarabani.
Hetmyer was on 10 at that time and launched a blitzkrieg soon after, hitting Ngarava for back-to-back boundaries in the fifth over, blasting sixes off successive balls off Graeme Cremer in the seventh over, the first one a swipe across the line that landed in the deep mid-wicket stand and the next over the cow corner.
In the next over, he hammered Zimbabwe skipper Sikander Raza for three sixes in four legal deliveries as West Indies raced to 92/2 in the eighth over, reaching his half-century in 19 balls.
He continued in the same vein after his half-century, blasting Sikander Raza to the biggest six of the night -- a 108-metre monster into cow corner -- in the 10th over and followed it up with a four off the next legal delivery. He scored 33 runs off Raza in nine balls. He was dropped once again when, at 72, Musekiwa was again the culprit.
Powell joined the fun and unleashed a few big hits of his own, hitting four fours and three sixes as he reached his fifty off 29 balls. They reached the 100 of their partnership off 45 balls. Just when it looked like Hetmyer would reach his century, he was out, mistiming a swipe off Cramer and was caught by Bennett for 85 off 34 balls, hammering seven fours and an equal number of sixes during his brilliant knock. Powell too departed soon after, caught by Musekiwa off Muzaabani for 59 off 35 balls (4x4, 4x6).
With Hetmyer and Powell going great guns, the West Indies scored 139/2 in the middle-overs, which is the second-highest runs in this stage of a match, behind the 141/3 blasted by Sri Lanka against Kenya in 2007.
Sherfane Rutherford (31 not out off 13 balls) and Jason Holder (13 in four balls), who struck Muzarbani for sixes off successive balls in the final over as the West Indies posted a massive total, leaving Zimbabwe a mountain to climb in the second innings.
Brief scores:
West Indies 254/6 in 20 overs (Shimron Hetmyer 85, Rovman Powell 59, Sherfane Rutherford 31 not out; Blessing Muzarabani 2-42, Richard Ngarava 2-47) beat Zimbabwe 147 all out in 17.4 overs (Brad Evans 43 not out; Gudakesh Motie 4-28, Akeal Hosein 3-28) by 107 runs
