Destiny had something special in store for Lendl Simmons the 31...
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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.
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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.
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.