Simmons stuns India as hosts ousted in semis

The World T20 caravan moved to India’s financial capital and the iconic Wankhede Stadium hosted its fourth World T20 match. Known to be a batsman’s paradise, it was exploited by Chris Gayle when he smacked a 48-ball 100 hundred as West Indies beat England while Joe Root took the Proteas to the cleaners as England chased a mammoth 230 before AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis ran riot against Afghanistan.

The fireworks continued on Thursday and it was business as usual for India’s Virat Kohli. The Delhi batsman continued from where he left off against Australia and smashed an unbeaten 89 off just 47 balls to steer India to 192/2.  But it was just half of what was to come.

Chasing 193 for a journey to Kolkata, West Indies got over the line with two balls and seven wickets to spare with Lendl Simmons being the star with the bat by scoring an unbeaten 83 off 51 balls. His knock included seven fours and five sixes at a strike-rate of 162 and guided West Indies to a place in the final where they will meet England at Eden Gardens on Sunday.

Andre Russell, promoted to number five, scored an unbeaten 43 in 20 balls as India could do nothing to stop the marauding West Indies batsmen.

India’s defence started on the right note when Jasprit Bumrah castled Chris Gayle in the seventh ball of the innings with an inswinging yorker that Gayle missed connecting completely.

6/1 became 19/2 when Marlon Samuels lobbed the ball up to the covers for Ajinkya Rahane to pouch the ball safely.

It brought Simmons and the Mumbai Indians player picked the gaps at ease to release the pressure in the Windies camp. Dhoni introduced Ashwin right after the power play and the spinner had Simmons caught by Bumrah in a fine effort at short third man but the replays showed that Ashwin had overstepped and Simmons stayed on.

It was the life the Windies were looking for as Johnson Charles and Simmons silenced 33,000 people at the stadium as the Indian slow bowlers were thrashed all over the park. Charles got to his half-century off 30 balls with a terrific pull shot off Pandya and the West Indies bench erupted in a celebration.

A partnership of 97 in 10 overs for the third wicket put Windies in the driver’s seat but it was Kohli who got the vital breakthrough when he got Charles caught in the long off boundary.

Russell walked in next and the worst was to come for the Indians. After taking a couple of overs to settle down, Russell sent one Pandya delivery into the Arabian Sea.  

Being the generous bowlers Indians were, they gifted Simmons a second life when Ashwin caught him off a no-ball. The free hit was given the same treatment and it landed in the top tier.

With 55 runs needed in the last 30 balls, it was just a matter of time before West Indies ran away with the game as the Indian bowlers got everything wrong on a day when performance had to matter.

Earlier, India dropped Shikhar Dhawan and brought in Rahane while Manish Pandey filled in Yuvraj Singh’s shoes. The hosts started cautiously and exploded towards the end of the power play by scoring 29 runs in the fifth and sixth overs, including a 20-run over off Andre Russell. A score of 55 for no loss when the field restrictions ended meant India were off to a flyer.

However, Samuel Badree pegged back India by trapping Rohit Sharma leg-before and that brought India’s talisman Kohli to the middle. Kohli and Rahane kept the scoreboard ticking and at the half-way stage, India were 86/1.

West Indies were left to rue their luck when they failed to aim at the stumps at Kohli’s end thrice in two balls and the batsman made them pay with a stupendous display of stroke play.

Rahane and Kohli consolidated as they converted the ones into twos and the bad balls were treated with disdain to the ropes. Just when the pair looked settled to steer India to a huge total, Rahane holed out at deep mid-wicket to Dwayne Bravo off Russell.

Lack of runs prompted Dhoni to demote Suresh Raina and promote himself, which proved to be a master stroke as India piled on the runs. The Windies ran out of ideas and the last five overs yielded 65 runs as Kolhi and Dhoni smashed the bowlers all over the park and India finished at a par-score of 192.