In-form all-rounder Sikandar Raza has fired Zimbabwe to a convincing 31-run win over Ireland in Hobart to begin their T20 World Cup campaign.
Raza whacked 82 from 48 balls, including five fours and five sixes, on Monday night as Zimbabwe posted 7-174 and kept their opposition to 9-143 in reply.
It continued a rich vein of form for the Pakistan-born 36-year-old, who has five half centuries from his past nine T20 international innings.
In August, he scored back-to-back unbeaten centuries in Zimbabwe's ODI series win over Bangladesh and posted 115 against India in the same format.
Raza came to the crease with his team in a wobbly position at 3-37 in the sixth over but turned the momentum before falling on the final ball of the innings.
"The only thought in my head was, 'just bat'. I didn't allow any emotions to get the better of me," Raza told broadcasters.
"All I said was, 'I'm going to look to time the ball well and take it from there'."
Raza then chipped in with 1-22 bowling a mix of off-speed deliveries after Zimbabwe's quicks tore through Ireland's top order.
"When we qualified, as much as we're happy to be here ... our journey's not done," he said.
"The goal we brought was to get into the Super 12s and take on some of the big teams and see where we go."
Blessing Muzarabani (3-23) and Richard Ngarava (2-22) did the damage up front for Zimbabwe as Ireland's chase fell to 4-22 inside four overs.
Earlier, Josh Little was the pick of their bowlers for Ireland with 3-24 from four overs, including two wickets inside the six-over powerplay.
Group B's Zimbabwe, Ireland, Scotland and the West Indies are fighting to reach the Super 12 stage of the World Cup during matches in Hobart this week.
The two highest finishing countries in the group progress.
Scotland earlier on Monday caused a sizeable boilover, beating the West Indies by 42 runs.
