Watch: Akeal Hosein's epic shock reaction after Rovman Powell's six lands outside stadium
West Indies middle-order Rovman Powell showcased his brutal power-hitting skills once again, while helping his side to a strong first-innings finish in a must win T20 World Cup 2022 game against Zimbabwe at the Bellerive Oval, Hobart on Wednesday, October 19. Powell struck 28 off 21, featuring a four and two sixes, with the maximums coming in the final over of the innings, bowled by right-arm quick Blessing Muzarabani.
The first of those was pulled flat over the mid-wicket on the first ball of the over, and the second was even more emphatic. Having squeezed in a dot, followed by a wide, Muzarabani slanted a short length ball into Powell's body, and the right-hander pulled it away with all his might to send it soaring over the square leg fence, and the ball cleared the stadium.
Akeal Hosein, the non-striker, couldn’t believe the stroke and was shocked at the distance the ball travelled.
“Can you get 12s at some point? That is a rocket ball,” remarked Ian Bishop on air. Powell was dismissed the very next ball, skying a slower one to Richard Ngarava at cover, and the West Indies finished 153/7 in the allotted 20 overs.
Watch: Akeal Hosein's epic shock reaction after Rovman Powell's six lands outside stadium
— cric fun (@cric12222) October 19, 2022
West Indies eventually won the contest by 31 runs, with Alzarri Joseph’s 4/16 and Jason Holder’s 3/12 helping the two-time champions bundle out Zimbabwe for 122 in 18.2 overs. It was West Indies’ first win of the competition, after they had gone down to Scotland by 42 runs on Monday.
Earlier, Ireland defeated Scotland by six wickets in the first match of the day to keep the Group B evenly poised. Each of the four teams in the group now have won a match each from two outings. West Indies will play Ireland, while Zimbabwe will be up against Scotland on Friday, October 21, with the winners to progress to the Super 12s round.
Sri Lanka will face off against Netherlands, and Namibia will play the UAE in the last two Group A games in Geelong on Thursday, with each team in with a chance mathematically to progress through.