Online Reporter
Tinashe Kusema
Zimpapers Sports Hub
AT some point, we were going to lose.
It happened yesterday when our unbeaten run at the ICC T20 World Cup came to a screeching halt after the Chevrons crashed to a 107-run defeat at the hands of the West Indies at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, India.
Zimbabwe won the toss and opted to ball, a move that backfired as West Indies piled up 254 runs for six in their allotted 20 overs.
The Chevrons were bowled out for 147.
Both Zimbabwe and the West Indies made the solitary change to their starting 11, with Richard Ngarava and Romario Sherperd coming in for Wellington Masakadza and Roston Chase.
Ironically, both players missed their team’s last two games with Ngarava experiencing back problems while Shepard had a leg injury.
The changes, however, had little impact on the game as the day belonged to Shimron Hatmyer whose Player-of-the-Match performance was characterised with some powerhitting of the highest order.
The West Indies top-order batter should, however, count himself lucky as he was dropped twice by Tashinga Musekiwa on his way to 85 runs off 34 balls.
His match-winning innings included seven boundaries and seven maximums, and featured a 112-run off 52 balls third-wicket partnership alongside Rovman Powell that put the match beyond Zimbabwe’s grasp.
Powell also chipped in with 59 runs off 35 balls, which featured four maximums and four boundaries.
The West Indies batting order kept a healthy strike rate during their innings with the likes of Sherfane Rutherford chipping in with an unbeaten 31 runs off 13 balls while Romario Shepherd put up 21 runs off 13 balls.
On the other side, Zimbabwe’s bowlers struggled with skipper, Sikandar Raza, likely to look back on his decision to bowl first with regret.
The Wankhede pitch offered very little for his seamers and spinners while West Indies exploited the shorter boundary in India.
Ngarava and Blessing Muzarabani were the pick of the Zimbabwe bowlers, taking two wickets each.
However, their economy was the worrying part with Ngarava finishing with two for 47 runs at 11.75 runs an over, while Muzarabani ended with figures of two for 42 runs at 10.50 an over.
The rest of the Zimbabwe bowlers did not fare any better
Brad Evans and Graeme Cremer each took a wicket apiece but their four overs saw the duo concede 46 and 38 runs respectively.
Sikandar Raza and Dion Myers bowled three and one overs and were dispatched for 52 and 19 runs respectively.
There was very little to write home about Zimbabwe’s run chase except for Brad Evans entertaining knock at the backend of the innings.
The usually reliable Tadiwanashe Marumani and Brian Bennett were back in the changing room before making an impact on the scoreboard.
Bennett was the first to go when he was bowled by Akeal Hosein for his five runs off five balls while Marumani put up 14 runs off eight balls before he caught by Hetmyer off the bowling of Matthew Forde.
Ryan Burl followed suit with a three-ball duck after he was caught by Hetmyer off the bowling of Hosein.
In the end, a total of six Zimbabwe batters failed to reach double-digits figures with Musekiwa and Cremer all falling for ducks during Zimbabwe tame run chase.
Evans did offer some entertainment at the backend of the innings and top-scored for Zimbabwe with 43 runs off 21.
He also shared 10th-wicket stand with Ngarava that saw the duo pile up 44 runs off 19 balls.
Their stand is now Zimbabwe’s highest 10-wicket at the Men’s T20 World Cup, beating Ray Price and Greg Lamb’ s 10 runs.
Motie was the pick of the West Indies bowlers with figures of four for 28 runs while Hosein chipped in with three for 22 runs.
For Zimbabwe skipper, Raza, the match was a learning experience and he hopes the Chevrons bounce back in their remaining two games against India and South Africa.
“I think if we think about the change in venues and change in country, we will not learn anything.
“And for me, it is very important to learn from this game,” said Raza
“We don’t want to look for excuses. If we want to go through to the final, we have to win in every country, every venue,” he said.
Mathew Masinge