World T20: Kumar Sangakkara on MS Dhoni feeling like Bill Murray!
'Groundhog Day situation as Simmons earns THREE reprieves'
Last Updated: 31/03/16 8:55pm
Kumar Sangakkara hailed Lendl Simmons' match-winning innings for West Indies in the World T20 semi-final - despite the West Indies batsman earning THREE reprieves from India.
Simmons, called into West Indies' squad as a late replacement for hamstring-injury victim Andre Fletcher, cracked 82 not out from 51 balls to propel his side past India's 192-2 with two balls to spare in Mumbai and into the showpiece game with England on Sunday, in Kolkata.
The 31-year-old was twice caught off front-foot no-balls , when he was on 18 and 50, while he was also handed a lifeline late in his innings when Ravindra Jadeja's foot was adjudged to be on the boundary rope as he flicked the ball back for Virat Kohli to take a catch.
MS Dhoni must have felt like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day! Simmons comes in, scores runs, and you get him out - he scores runs and you get him out again, he scores runs and you get him out again!
Kumar Sangakkara
"Coming in to a team as a replacement is not always easy but Simmons looked very focussed and I think he understood the conditions very well," Sangakkara said of the right-hander, who was playing at the home ground of his IPL franchise, Mumbai Indians.
"The way he started was very similar to a normal innings - hitting the loose ball and getting off strike - but he committed to every shot he played and wanted to bat through the innings, which he did.
"MS Dhoni, though, must have felt like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day!
"Simmons comes in, scores runs, and you get him out - he scores runs and you get him out again, he scores runs and you get him out again!
"It was high-drama, a beautiful chase and great to watch but cardinal mistakes cost India the game - it is hard to come back from those, even as professional players, and that catch [Jadeja's] was the last straw."
West Indies lost Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels cheaply at Wankhede Stadium, slipping to 19-2 when the former was bowled by Jasprit Bumrah for five and the latter chipped Ashish Nehra to cover for eight.
However, Simmons and Johnson Charles (52 from 36) smashed 97 in 10.1 overs before Andre Russell (43 off 20) and Simmons took West Indies home with an unbroken stand of 80 in 6.3 overs, Russell walloping a match-sealing six off Virat Kohli's medium pace.
"I'm not sure one great day in Mumbai cancels out the bad days they have had in recent times but it's a good little period for them," Michael Atherton added of West Indies, whose women's side will play three-time champions Australia in Sunday's final.
"Their Under 19s have won the World Cup and their men and women are through to the final here.
"They are a different team in the shorter format - they often look a pale imitation in Test cricket but get them together in Twenty20 and they are a hard team to beat.
"They have got many more match-winners than one [Gayle]."
Can West Indies win both World T20 titles? Watch their men play England at 2pm on Sunday on Sky Sports 2 - immediately after their women play Australia (9.30am on the same channel).
