India v West Indies World T20 2nd Semi-Final Review: Lendl Simmons powers Windies into the final

Lendl Simmons is a household name in Mumbai. Each time he dons the shirt of the Mumbai Indians shirt, their fans go berserk. However, during the semifinals at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, Lendl Simmons was public enemy number one as his blitz ensured the Windies a safe passage through to the finals of the World T20 2016. They will now face England for the second time this tournament. Heartbreak for the Indian fans.

MS Dhoni once more lost an unbelievably crucial toss as Darren Sammy opted to field first. The dew, despite all the chemicals they could use was something that couldn’t be stopped. In a rather surprising move, the Indians had opted to hand both Ajinkya Rahane and Manish Pandey their first cap in the current world T20.

Batting first, the pride of Mumbai – Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma. Therefore, for the first time this tournament, the Indian openers got off to a splendid start. Having taken their customary time to settle in, they began to express themselves by playing their shots. Rohit Sharma, in particular, began to find the fence on numerous occasions. Despite trapped leg-before, the damage had been done by the Indians. They were on 67 with 7 overs bowled. Enter Virat Kohli. The one name in Indian cricket that literally brings millions to their feet. A few nerves showed initially as he was almost run-out on a couple of occasions.

However, despite the early jitters, it was business as usual for Virat Kohli as he began his customary onslaught on the Caribbean seamers. Something else also became familiar when Kohli pushed Rahane to convert the ones into twos. MS Dhoni once more promoted himself up the order to join the exuberant Virat Kohli. The duo added 64 runs in the final 4.3 overs.

As suggested, Dhoni didn’t promote himself up the order to hit the big shots but made an appearance to  help Virat with the running between wickets. Virat Kohli concluded his innings with a couple of boundaries and a six as he remained unbeaten on 89. The Indians had thus compiled a mammoth 192 for the loss of just 2 wickets int their 20 overs.

The West Indies innings kicked-off in perhaps the most ideal fashions for the Indians. There would be not ‘Gaylestorm’ this time around as the 36-year old was cleaned up by a wonderful low full-toss from Jasprit Bumrah. Things got from bad to worse for the Windies when a careless shot from Marlon Samuels found its way into the safe hands of Ajinkya Rahane. Lendl Simmons was expected to watch the tournament from his house in Trinidad. However, an injury to Andre Fletcher meant that he would find himself playing in Mumbai.

Simmons initially understood that Johnson Charles was striking the ball with stern authority. Therefore, he did the smart thing by providing a majority of the strike to his batting partner. Seven fours and a couple of massive sixes flowed from the bat of Johnson Charles. As Charles approached his half-century, Lendl Simmons began to clobber the Indian spinners around the park. In a nutshell, this was effectively the start of the Lendl Simmons show. Simmons survived a scare after R Ashwin was adjudged no ball.

The predicament was clear for MS Dhoni. Never in his entire career as Indian skipper had he come across an onslaught like this in such an important match. He seemingly had no answer despite being a picture of calmness. Hardik Pandya, the wily all-rounder too was getting smashed inside-out. Pandya dismissed Simmons on one occasion, only for his foot to be over the no-ball line by a country mile.

Needless to say, Lendl Simmons was in an unforgiving mood on the night. 5 sixes and 7 boundaries were a major part of his compilation of a quickfire 82. He was joined by Andre Russell towards the end. The latter, as he has always done, swung the bat with ferocity as he ensured that the Indians stood no chance of winning. Among Russell’s massive hits was a 99-meter whack out of the Wankhede Stadium and into the gutter. Simmons was awarded the player of the match for his amazing efforts with the bat.

Brief Scores

India 192/2 in 20 overs (Kohli 89*; Badree 1/26)

West Indies 196/3 in 19.4 overs (Simmons 82*; Nehra 1/24)

How did Twitter react to the match? – Twitter Reactions: West Indies ride on Lendl Simmons’ luck into the finals