COLOMBO: Zimbabwe returned to the T20 World Cup in emphatic fashion on Mon­day, strolling to an eight-wicket win over Oman here at the Sinhalese Sports Club.

In their first T20 World Cup since 2022, Zimbabwe skittled Oman for 103 before knocking off the runs with 39 balls to spare.

Brian Bennett was unbeaten on 48 and Brendan Taylor, 40, made 31 before retiring hurt.

Zimbabwe’s quick bowling twin towers Richard Ngarava and Blessing Muzarabani did the early damage, reducing Oman to 27-5 with none of their top order managing to get into double figures.

A 42-run stand for the sixth wicket bet­ween Sufyan Mehmood and Vinayak Shu­kla gave Oman’s total some respectability.

Ngarava finished with 3-17 Muzarabani 3-16 and Brad Evans took 3-18. Shukla (28)top scored for Oman and Mehmood got 25.

Bennett and Tadiwanashe Marumani raced to 30 before two wickets brought Taylor to the crease.

The veteran retired hurt with victory four runs away, leaving skipper Sikandar Raza to finish the job with a four.

SCOREBOARD

OMAN:

A. Kaleem c Myers b Muzarabani 5

J. Singh b Muzarabani 5

H. Mirza c Taylor b Ngarava 0

K. Sonavale c Taylor b Muzarabani 0

W. Ali b Raza 3

S. Mehmood c Musekiwa b Evans 25

V. Shukla c Taylor b Ngarava 28

J. Ramanandi c Myers b Ngarava 1

N. Khan c Bennett b Evans 20

S. Ahmad b Evans 4

S. Faisal not out 5

EXTRAS (L-B-5, W-2) 7

TOTAL (all out, 19.5 overs) 103

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-7 (Singh), 2-8 (Mirza), 3-16 (Kaleem), 4-17 (Sonavale), 5-27 (Ali), 6-69 (Shukla), 7-71 (Ramanandi), 8-76 (Mehmood), 9-96 (Ahmad)

BOWLING: Ngarava 4-1-17-3 (1w), Muzarabani 4-1-16-3 (1w), Evans 3.5-0-18-3, Raza 4-0-17-1, Bennett 2-0-18-0, Masakadza 2-0-12-0

ZIMBABWE:

B. Bennett not out 48

T. Marumani c Ali b Mehmood 21

D. Myers c Shukla b Mehmood 0

B. Taylor retired hurt 31

S. Raza not out 5

EXTRA (LB-1) 1

TOTAL (for two wickets, 13.3 overs) 106

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-30 (Marumani), 2-30 (Myers)

DID NOT BAT: R. Burl, T. Musekiwa, B. Evans, W. Masakadza, R. Ngarava, B. Muzarabani

BOWLING: Faisal 2-0-13-0, Ahmad 2-0-27-0, Mehmood 3-0-12-2, Khan 3-0-28-0, Ali 2-0-10-0, Ramanandi 1-0-9-0, Sonavale 0.3-0-6-0

RESULT: Zimbabwe won by eight wickets.

Published in Dawn, February 10th, 2026