It was brutal hitting by West Indies as Zimbabwe's bowlers were taken to the cleaners at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Monday (February 23). Put into bat, the Caribbean superstars put on the second-highest total in T20 World Cup history and the highest of the 2026 edition on a beautiful batting surface aided by short square boundaries.
Shimron Hetmyer's 34-ball 85 was the highlight of a ball-striking exhibition by the two-time champions as they made mince meat of Zimbabwe's bowlers who lost the plot completely after a steady start. Rovman Powell (59 off 35) was the other notable contributor and his partnership with Hetmyer yielded 122 runs off just 52 deliveries.
Zimbabwe could have broken the stand a lot earlier if they had taken their catches off Hetmyer but that wasn't to be. Boosted by such a fiery century stand, West Indies then got the ideal slog overs push through Sherfane Rutherford (31* off 13) and Romario Shepherd (21 off 10) as the 250-run mark was breached only for the second time in T20 World Cup history.
Prior the game, we had mentioned how a massive win for either of the teams would hugely dent India's chances of a semifinal berth, especially if West Indies came out on the winning side. While miracles can still happen, 255 seems a bridge too far for Zimbabwe, even with the extreme batting conditions on offer.
If Zimbabwe manage to get to 177, their net run rate will be better than that of India's. Of course, it isn't of much relevance now, more so as the two teams go face-to-face in Chennai on Thursday (February 26). However, staying at fourth spot will still be a slight mental dent for the defending champions.
More importantly, the margin of this West Indies win will give them immense confidence and if they then beat South Africa, they could even qualify with a defeat to India as net run rate will come into play. The Windies will hope to wrap up Zimbabwe for as low a total as possible while Raza's men will need to be smart about this chase as net run rate will be critical going forward.
