Mumbai, Feb 23 (IANS) West Indies batter Shimron Hetmyer put on a dazzling display of power-hitting, racing to a record fastest half-century for a Caribbean batter in the T20 World Cup in their Super 8 Group 1 clash against Zimbabwe at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Monday.
Asked to bat first, Hetmyer reached the milestone in 19 balls, hitting four boundaries and five maximums in the process, improving on his own record for the fastest fifty by a West Indies batter in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
Hetmyer had earlier blasted a half-century in 22 balls against Scotland in the opening match of this World Cup at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, breaking the previous record of fifty in 23 balls by Chris Gayle at the Oval in 2009.
Hetmyer came in to bat after the fall of Brandon King in the third over, with the West Indies at 17/1. Hetmyer shared a 37-run partnership with skipper Shai Hope (14).
Hetmyer started with a four off Richard Ngarava in the third over and another off Blessings Muzarabani in the next over. He got a life when Tashinga Musekiwa grassed a straightforward chance at long-leg on a swivel pull off Muzarabani.
Hetmyer was on 10 at that time and launched a blitzkrieg soon after, hitting Ngarava for back-to-back boundaries in the fifth over, blasting sixes off successive balls off Graeme Cremer in the seventh over, the first one a swipe across the line that landed in the deep mid-wicket stand and the next over the cow corner.
In the next over, he hammered Zimbabwe skipper Sikander Raza for three sixes in four legal deliveries as West Indies raced to 92/2 in the eighth over, reaching his half-century in 19 balls.
–IANS
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