T20 WC: Brad Evans celebrates 50th T20 appearance with three-fer
What's the story
In a stunning turn of events, Team Zimbabwe has pulled off a major upset in the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup by defeating Australia by 23 runs in their Group B clash at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. Zimbabwe's victory was largely due to a stellar bowling performance led by Blessing Muzarabani and Brad Evans. Muzarabani took four wickets while Evans chipped in with three. Notably, this game marked the latter's 50th T20 appearance. Let's decode his stats.
Bowling brilliance
Evans made the new ball talk
Chasing a 170-run target, Australia's top-order batsmen failed to perform. Muzarabani and Evans made two strikes each in the powerplay, reducing the Aussies to 29/4. The latter, who trapped opposition captain Travis Head and Cameron Green with the new ball, then dismissed tail-ender Ben Dwarshuis in the final over as Australia were folded for 146 (19.3 overs).
Stats
A look at Evans's T20 stats
Evans was brilliant for Zimbabwe, finishing with 3/23 from 3.3 overs. Playing his 50th T20 game as per ESPNcricinfo, the pacer has raced to 81 wickets at a fine average of 14.09. His economy is a brilliant 6.95 as the tally includes four four-wicket hauls and a fifer. Coming to his T20I stats, this spell took him to 42 wickets from 27 games at 16.02. Notably, Evans claimed three wickets in Zimbabwe's opener against Oman as well (3/18).
Muzarabani
Four-fer for Muzarabani
Muzarabani walked away with the Player-of-the-Match award thanks to his career-best bowling figures of 4/17 (4 fours). With his final scalp, Muzarabani became the third bowler to complete 100 T20I scalps for Zimbabwe. He has joined Richard Ngarava (111) and Raza (103). Across 85 games, the pacer averages 21.08 as his economy is 7.10. The one against Australia was his maiden four-fer in the format.