T20 World Cup Top Moments: Lendl Simmons’ forgotten masterpiece sinks India in Mumbai

Think 2016 T20 World Cup and the most abiding memory is the Virat Kohli classic in Mohali and the Carlos Brathwaite’s ‘remember the name’ assault on Ben Stokes. Sandwiched between the two is a forgotten masterpiece, courtesy Lendl Simmons. Here’s some context. Simmons was not part of the initial West Indies squad for that World Cup. If not for an injury to Andre Fletcher, he would have followed his team’s campaign from the Caribbean. He landed in India reportedly two days before the India game, and luckily for him, the match was at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium, his IPL homeground. Simmons’ fortune stuck with him during the innings too: He was dismissed off no-balls twice – on 18 and 50 – but returned to the dressing room unbeaten on 82 off 51 balls. Luck alone was not the sole driver of his innings though. A knock characterised by sublime shot selection, well-timed acceleration, and flawless execution meant an India attack comprising of Ashish Nehra, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravichandran Ashwin, Hardik Pandya, and Ravindra Jadeja was made to look clueless under the glistening Mumbai floodlights. [caption id=“attachment_10046841” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Lendl Simmons’ match-winning innings guided West Indies to a seven-wicket win over India. Image: AFP/File[/caption] On either side of Simmons’ knock were contrasting explosions of raw power. Opener Johnson Charles didn’t let the second-over dismissal of Chris Gayle get to him, and reeled off a 36-ball 52 to set the pace in pursuit of India’s 192/2. Later, Andre Russell strutted his stuff with a 20-ball 43 to take the 2012 champions home with two deliveries to spare.

Simmons stitched a 97-run partnership with Charles off 67 balls, while with Russell, 80 runs were scored from 39 balls, which meant the failures of Gayle and Marlon Samuels – the chief architect of their 2012 final win – didn’t have any impact on the chase. Earlier, Darren Sammy won the toss and chose to chase on a batting paradise. Indian openers Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane added 62 runs in less than eight overs to set the stage for Kohli. Fresh from his Mohali classic where his 51-ball 82 – and some insane running between the wickets – ground Australia to dust, Kohli went about his business with a busy fluency that typifies his batsmanship. Eighty nine unbeaten runs from 47 balls pushed India to a par score of 192/2 on the Wankhede belter, and when India reduced the visitors to 19/2 at the end of the third over, their second consecutive T20 World Cup final appearance looked a foregone conclusion. Unfortunately for India, Simmons had other ideas. Positively riled by Kohli in the first innings, he went on to script an invaluable innings that paved the way for West Indies’ second T20 World Cup win. To read more standout moments from past T20 World Cups, click here