🏏ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026: S 8 - Match 44: WI vs ZIMBABWE🏏 - Page 4

The two captains are out in the middle now. Sikander Raza flips the coin and wins the toss: Zimbabwe will bowl first.

Teams:

Zimbabwe (Playing XI): Brian Bennett, Tadiwanashe Marumani(w), Ryan Burl, Sikandar Raza(c), Tashinga Musekiwa, Tony Munyonga, Dion Myers, Brad Evans, Graeme Cremer, Richard Ngarava, Blessing Muzarabani

West Indies (Playing XI): Brandon King, Shai Hope(w/c), Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell, Sherfane Rutherford, Romario Shepherd, Jason Holder, Matthew Forde, Akeal Hosein, Gudakesh Motie, Shamar Joseph

Pitch Report | Samuel Badree and Dinesh Karthik:

"Things have cooled down quite considerably here in Mumbai after quite a simmering day. It usually is a high-scoring venue, lots of sixes. What does the dimension look like? Well, if you're bowling from the press box end, it's 74 meters straight over the bowler's head. Square, there is a slight disparity (61m and 68m). These dimensions everyone will want to take into consideration as they plot for tonight's contest. First up, it's a red soil pitch and it's got good bounce. So if bounce was their friend in Colombo, if you see the bounce in Colombo, it was 0.86 meters, whereas in Mumbai, it is going to be 0.82 meters. Now, the fact that they used the bounce to their advantage in Colombo, where they got a lot of their catches in the boundary line, was something very useful in those venues. But in Wankhede, obviously, they have smaller dimensions. They had 82-83m to work with in Colombo, whereas in Wankhede, there's only the 75-76m. So the 8 meters can make a massive difference on the side boundaries. And I would think, because of dryness of this pitch, the team wanting to win the toss, would like to bat first. Yeah, news coming in is not too much to dew. It's a belief against pedigree. West Indies have never lost a T20 World Cup match at this venue. Will that change tonight?"

45+ in the powerplay: West Indies' powerplay scores in this WC - 33/0, 55/3, 44/1, 48/2. Muzarabani has dismissed Hope twice in two T20s. Expect WI to score around 45 for the loss of a wicket in the first 6 overs.

For West Indies, Romario Shepherd is fit again and should return to the team. Other than that, the team is functioning well, and it's the two left-handers in their lineup that would've been the focus of Zimbabwe's team meetings. Hetmyer and Rutherford are the men in form and if they get in, you can expect some big hits.

The win against Australia grabbed all headlines, and the one against Sri Lanka silenced a packed crowd. Zimbabwe are riding a wave and so is their opener Brian Bennett who is yet to be dismissed in this tournament. 48*, 64* and 63* are his scores so far, laying the foundation every time for the middle order to follow. With the ball, Blessing Muzarabani has been the standout, winning Player of the Match against Oman and Australia. Has picked up 9 wickets in 3 matches and should enjoy conditions in Mumbai too.

Shai Hope | WI captain: We would have probably bowled first as well. (On having god memories at this ground) That's in the past, we've got good history behind us, but regardless, we've got to play cricket well on the day. Again, we've got some nice confidence going into this round, but still, we've got to play well on the day. One change. Romario Shepherd comes back in. Roston Chase misses out.

Sikandar Raza | Zimbabwe captain: We're going to have a bowl first. Looking at the games that were played in Mumbai and also looking at the history, it looks like it's a ground that is a lot suitable for chasing and also our seamers have done so well. It looks like a good deck, but we want our seamers to have the best chance to try and make early inroads. (On adapting to these conditions) We've never played, but I said that yesterday as well. Imagine being the only country that comes here once and win one. That's certainly a great record to have at such an iconic ground in the world as well. This ground has got such a beautiful history and if we can write our name in the history books as well, that would be brilliant. We've got one change. Richard Ngarava has been declared fit, so he replaces Wellington Masakadza.

(Ambition) Yeah, certainly it's an honour to play world champions at an iconic ground like this, but certainly if you can put our best foot forward and get a good result for our country as well, then it's certainly something to be very proud of and take those two points into the next game.

Zimbabwe players march to their positions after breaking from the huddle. Hope and King, the two openers, are out there. Can see a good amount of green grass on the pitch.

45+ in the powerplay: West Indies' powerplay scores in this WC - 33/0, 55/3, 44/1, 48/2. Muzarabani has dismissed Hope twice in two T20s. Expect WI to score around 45 for the loss of a wicket in the first 6 overs.

Zimbabwe and West Indies meet today for only the fifth time in T20Is. And what an occasion it might be. They're in a packed Super Eight group. The other two teams are India and South Africa - the strongest favourites at this World Cup. To win today means to clinch two crucial points ahead of even tougher battles. However, neither side will be taking the other lightly today. They are both undefeated, having finished as table-toppers to send a strong signal to their oppositions. How will they fare today?

Zimbabwe has been the story of the tournament so far and they're only getting started. If you thought that getting to this stage is the extent of their ambitions, you haven't been watching, or listening. Today they take on the West Indies who are also unbeaten so far, winning all four matches in their group, including the one against England. One advantage maybe for them is that they have played at this venue twice already, whereas Zimbabwe were based in Sri Lanka in the Group Stages.

Originally posted by: missFiesty_69

Erm why ? We still have chances. If Zim/WI ends up loosing two matches, then India sltands a chance. There’s also a chance of SA losing. Probabilities change every day.

Gids: "This is a very important mach for both of these teams. Many did not expect them to reach this far in the compitition. Whichever team wins this match stands a chance to move on. They have to play excellent cricket. Minimize errors. Thanks ESPN cricinfo for bringing us very good coverage."

Jake Ramdhan: "I think dropping Chase on this pitch is a mistake. Samson/Hope to open, Hetmeyer at 3 and Rutherford 4, King at 5 to stabilise"

Mark: "C'mon Zim! I guess my work day here in Zambia ends in 10 min..."

Ashmeed Syne: "Rally round d West Indies,now and forever!!! Unbeaten,lets continue this trend straight to the final,guys.Confidence,discipline and wonderful team effort,all the best at Mumbai."

Zeeshan: "I think WI would have struggled if match was scheduled in SL. In Wankhede, WI may crush Zim easily."

Shadow-Shell: "Zimbabwe won after losing the toss against Sri Lanka and England. Already better omen for them?"

The two captains are out in the middle now. Sikander Raza flips the coin and wins the toss: Zimbabwe will bowl first. "It looks like it's a ground that is a lot suitable for chasing. Looks like a good deck but we want to have a good chance of making early inroads... One change: Richard Ngarava has been declared fit."

Shai Hope says he would have bowled first as well. "We've got to play nice cricket for the day. Romario Shephard comes back in, and Roston Chase goes out."

Dr Tamoor: "Raza has been 'Muqaddar ka Sikandar' ( Master of Fate) for Zimbabwe! Inspirational leadership so far!" - He's been quite eloquent in how he has talked about his team and its struggles too. In an exclusive interview with ESPNcricinfo, he says that after the mess of their recent past, it has been up to them to take the team to 'new heights'.

Satya Y: "Watch out for WI. They are the real dark horses in this T20 WC!"

Hamza: "Win today will not only give Zim a better chance to qualify for the Semis but it will also give them momentum to face next two games against SA and India. They can use that confidence against India, who we saw last night looked a bit down." - One game at a time for them, you'd suspect!

A big concern for West Indies has been Romario Shephard's fitness. Darren Sammy said ahead of the match that everyone was 'available'.

On the other hand, Algappan Muthu - reporting from the ground - has less positive news about Zimbabwe pacer Richard Ngarava's fitness. "At the press conference on Sunday, Sikandar Raza said he'd ask Richard Ngarava if he is ready to go and if Ngarava said he was ready, Raza would believe him over the team doctor and put his name in the XI straight away," he says. "We don't know if that conversation has happened yet but Ngarava has spent a fair bit of time this evening with Courtney Walsh at his ear, and the remainder seeing if he can go all out. From the looks of it though, this match might have come a day or two too early."

6.20pm There's so much to dig into as we wait for the toss and the team sheets. First, here's Al Muthu with some more golden nuggets from the ground: "West Indies were big into visualising. Rovman Powell spent a good five minutes behind the stumps practicing all kinds of defensive pushes and prods. Watch out for those during the game. Powell was followed by Shimron Hetmyer, who took time out to talk to us in the middle of showing why he's such a good fit at No. 3. We also have a Johnson Charles interview where he talks 2012, 2016, champagne flying and Chris Gayle doing the worm."