World T20: Lendl lands, shrugs off jet lag to pilot West Indies to Eden

K Shriniwas Rao / TNN / Updated: Apr 1, 2016, 09:16 IST

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Destiny had something special in store for Lendl Simmons the 31-year-old from Port of Spain, Trinidad who made a vociferous crowd go silent at the Wankhede Stadium.

World T20: Lendl lands, shrugs off jet lag to pilot West Indies to Eden

West Indies batsman Lendl Simmons (R) is watched by India's captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni as he plays a shot during the World T20 cricket tournament semi-final match between India and West Indies at The Wankhede Cricket Stadium in Mumbai on March 31, 2016. (AFP Photo)

MUMBAI: Destiny had something special in store for Lendl Simmons the 31-year-old from Port of Spain, Trinidad who made a vociferous crowd go silent at the Wankhede Stadium. First ruled out from the 15-member due to a back injury, he managed to recover in time when another top-order batsman, Andre Fletcher, was ruled out due to a hamstring injury.
Simmons joined the West Indies squad on Tuesday in Mumbai ahead of the all-important semi-final clash, and his unbeaten 51-ball 83 played a crucial role as the hosts got knocked out.Coming out to bat at No. 4, Simmons began an innings-building exercise that India had no answers to.

I got a call after the Afghanistan game. I was under a bit of pressure. I am familiar with this pitch and enjoy batting here. It is one of my better innings. It was a tough situation. We did not have a good start. I did not play the final in Sri Lanka. I am looking forward to Sunday. 180-190 was a par score here. We executed well. I was lucky to have got three chances. All of them went my way and I just cashed in.

Lendl Simmons

There were hits and there were misses in a knock that should raise West Indies' confidence going into the final against England at the Eden.

Merely two balls into the innings, Simmons pulled Nehra for four, some excellent timing allowing him to put his best foot forward.
Soon enough, facing Ravindra Jadeja on what had already turned out to be a belter, came his first six. It went straight over the long-off boundary, not just signalling Simmons' intent at the crease but allowing him to stretch his arms.

Six more boundaries, another four sixes and 45 balls later, he'd played enough to give his team a thrilling win.

It was a knock that allowed the West Indies and the world to look beyond the hitting genius of Gayle, a factor that was being weighed in more than the rest of the batsmen. Hopefully that is a viewpoint which will change after this game.
It wasn't an innings without luck, though. Twice Simmons was out caught first of R Ashwin and then off Hardik Pandya but on both occasions the bowlers had delivered a no-ball. There was another catch too, well taken by Jadeja and assisted by Kohli at the long-on boundary.
But the fielder's leg had touched the ropes and Sim mons once again survived.
It was the Trinidadian's destiny perhaps, to bring around a sensational victory for the West Indies at his IPL home ground in Mumbai.
Memories of how he'd replaced Australian Aaron Finch, here, in the 2015 IPL season to join the Mumbai Indians on their way to a title win came flooding back.

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