COLOMBO: Led by experienced Sikandar Raza, Zimbabwe open their T20 World Cup campaign with a Group ‘B’ match against Oman at the Sinhalese Sports club ground in Colombo on Monday.

While there are some familiar faces other than Sikandar in the squad of Zimbabwe, who missed the last edition of the global event, like wicket-keeper Brendan Taylor, their squad’s youngest player — Brian Bennett — definitely merits a mention as the cricketer played a major role in enabling Zimbabwe to qualify for the World Cup.

The 22-year-old Bennett was in prime form on home soil, scoring three half-centuries and a hundred to clinch Zimbabwe’s place in the tournament proper. He followed that up with some good knocks in a tri-series against Pakistan and Sri Lanka in November, and may prove an important campaigner for Zimbabwe in the World Cup too.

Zimbabwe, who upset eventual finalists Pakistan at the 2022 T20 World Cup, will surely be targeting a strong start against Oman before taking on heavyweights Australia in their second group-stage fixture.

On the other hand, Oman will be making their fourth appearance in the T20 showpiece. In two of their three previous appearances, the country secured a win, including one against Ireland in their very first game back in 2016.

Jatinder Singh will captain the side and open the batting, and will be backed by vice-captain and wicketkeeper Vinayak Shukla.

Bowling seems to be Oman’s primary strength, with Jiten Ramanandi, Sufyan Mehmood and Nadeem Khan having enjoyed plenty of success in the World Cup qualifier.

For Jatinder, the build-up has been about more than just run scoring. Having recovered from an injury during the early days of the camp in Sri Lanka, he slammed a half-century in the warm-up win over Zimbabwe said that his “players are in a good space and confident”.

“We are in a group which is the toughest for an Associate team, but we believe we have to play fearless and positive cricket. That is what we are going to showcase in Sri Lanka,” the skipper said.

Published in Dawn, February 9th, 2026