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COLOMBO: Dominant Zimbabwe sealed a comprehensive eight-wicket victory over Oman in the eighth fixture of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 here at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground on Monday.
Set meagre 105, Zimbabwe hit the winning runs in 13.3 overs, losing only two wickets in the process.
Tadiwanashe Marumani and Brian Bennett added 30 for the opening wicket in 3.1 overs before Oman made a comeback with back-to-back wickets to put the Chevrons in trouble.
After a double blow, veteran batter Brendan Taylor and Brian Bennett steadied the innings with a 68 run parntership.
Taylor made 31 from 30 balls with the help of three fours. He left the crease after retiring hurt with Zimbabwe requiring 11 to win.
Sikandar Raza eventually finished the match with a boundary while Bennett, who top-scored, remained unbeaten on 48 from 36 balls, laced with seven boundaries.
For Oman, Sufyan Mehmood picked up two wickets.
Earlier, Zimbabwe’s quick bowling twin towers Richard Ngarava and Blessing Muzarabani shared six wickets as Oman, who were asked to bat first, were skittled for 103 in 19.5 overs.
The beanpole pace men extracted lively bounce with the new ball in the Group B encounter, reducing Oman to 27-5 with none of their top order managing to get into double figures.
A face-saving 42-run stand for the sixth wicket between Sufyan Mehmood and Vinayak Shukla briefly stopped the rot and gave Oman a sniff of respectability.
But Ngarava returned for a second burst to snap the stand and put Zimbabwe firmly in charge.
Ngarava finished with 3-17 and Muzarabani 3-16.
Brad Evans provided the perfect first-change foil, hitting a nagging line and length to take 3-18 and ensure there was no way back for the associate side, who were bowled out in 19.5 overs.
Shukla top-scored for Oman with 28, and Mehmood got 25.
Oman: Jatinder Singh (c), Aamir Kaleem, Hammad Mirza, Wasim Ali, Karan Sonavale, Jiten Ramanandi, Vinayak Shukla(wk), Sufyan Mehmood, Nadeem Khan, Shah Faisal, and Shakeel Ahmed.
Zimbabwe: Brian Bennett, Tadiwanashe Marumani, Dion Myers, Brendan Taylor (wk), Sikandar Raza (c), Ryan Burl, Tashinga Musekiwa, Brad Evans, Wellington Masakadza, Richard Ngarava, and Blessing Muzarabani.
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