Lendl Simmons played a match-winning knock for the West Indies cricket team in their 2016 ICC T20 World Cup semifinal match against the Indian cricket team at the Wankhede Stadium. However, today, in the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 match between the West Indies cricket team and the South African cricket team, Simmons played a very slow knock of 16 runs at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
The right-handed batter opened the innings for the Men in Maroon after the South African cricket team’s captain Temba Bavuma won the toss and invited the Caribbean side to bat first in their Super 12 match of the 2021 edition of the T20 World Cup organized by the International Cricket Council. Lendl Simmons is famous for his ability to bat well in the shortest format of the game. However, he failed to get going against South Africa.
First, Simmons failed to take the advantage of the powerplay overs. He did not hit a single four or a six in his inning. And then, he continued to bat till the 14th over of the match. Despite Evin Lewis’ inning of 56 runs, Simmons’ slow knock ensured that the West Indies cricket team scored only 89 runs in 14.2 overs.
Simmons aggregated 16 runs off 35 deliveries at a strike rate of 45. Eventually, Kagiso Rabada dismissed him. The other Caribbean batters took the score to 143/8 in 20 overs.
Twitterati has mixed reaction to the performance of Lendl Simmons
Here are some of the top Twitter reactions to the batting performance from Lendl Simmons in the match against the South African cricket team:
Lendl Simmons has probably played the worst ever knock of the T20 World Cup – 16 (35).
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) October 26, 2021
Simmons doing us a favour here … not easy for other batters to come in and score from the get go
— Herschelle Gibbs (@hershybru) October 26, 2021
Given how he’s batting so far, the South Africans might just have dropped Lendl Simmons on purpose!
— Joy Bhattacharjya (@joybhattacharj) October 26, 2021
Strong case for West Indies to retire Simmons out here, given their batting depth – Bravo at No. 8 – and their middle order’s record against left-arm spin?
— Matt Roller (@mroller98) October 26, 2021
Lendl Simmons doing no good for West Indies today in the opening department.
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) October 26, 2021
Simmons building partnership with evin lewis pic.twitter.com/1lVhyrUhGE
— 𝐒𝐡𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐢💫 (@iamShrruti7) October 26, 2021
Lendl simmons is there to neutralize temba bavuma pic.twitter.com/Io7U2ARVtD
— Abhishek Manchare🇮🇳🚩 (@AbhiManchare) October 26, 2021
Simmons might have played one of poor knocks ever in T20 history – 16 from 35 balls as an opener.
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) October 26, 2021
Early preparation for WTC cycle started by Simmons
— Shivani (@meme_ki_diwani) October 26, 2021
Hoping for his return in test cricket pic.twitter.com/sB7Z2by6DZ
Lendl Simmons (16 off 33 balls) is a clear example of why option of RETIRING OUT batters can be practiced in T20s and shouldn’t be considered an insult to any batter’s skills. Batters can struggle to hit/find form on a given day but such inns hurt your team’s chances of winning.
— Mazher Arshad (@MazherArshad) October 26, 2021
