Shimron Hetmyer was at his big-hitting best, hammering a 34-ball 85 as West Indies piled up a whopping 254-6 against Zimbabwe in their T20 World Cup Super Eights clash at the Wankhede Stadium on Monday.
In reply, Zimbabwe struggled and were bowled out for 147 in 17.4 overs. Earlier, one-drop Hetmyer, who scored 23 against England and remained unbeaten on 46 versus Nepal at the same venue a few weeks ago, capitalised on his luck after Tashinga Musekiwa dropped him on nine at long leg off pacer Blessing Muzarabani (2-42). Hetmyer got another reprieve on 70, when Musekiwa again dropped an easy catch at mid-wicket off Brad Evans (1-46). Hetmyer, 29, then registered his best individual T20I performance, surpassing his earlier best unbeaten 81 vs Sri Lanka at Abu Dhabi in 2021.
Despite WI losing both openers inside the Powerplay, Hetmyer was in no mood to defend. He reached his half-century off just 19 balls when he welcomed leg-spinner Graeme Cremer (1-38) for two successive sixes. He then went one step further, hitting Zimbabwe captain and off-spinner Sikandar Raza (0-52) for three sixes in the next over. No. 4 Rovman Powell (35-ball 59) gave Hetmyer good support at the other end.
254-6
No. of runs scored by West Indies on Monday — their highest total in T20 World Cups; it is also the highest total by any team against Zimbabwe in T20Is
