West Indians wreak havoc at Kotla

The West Indian duo of Lendl Simmons and Kieron Pollard played enthralling knocks to take Mumbai Indians to a formidable 212 for three in their Indian Premier League match against Delhi Daredevils here today.

Simmons, who replaced Jos Butler at the top of the order, displayed ominous form in his very first match of the season to smash 66 off 43 balls before Pollard came to the party with an unbeaten 35-ball 63. Mumbai Indians saw out the first three overs, scoring just 18 before Simmons cut loose to take his side to 60 for no loss by the end of sixth over.

Parthiv Patel (25 off 22) was playing second fiddle to Simmons until leggie Amit Mishra got him stumped off a well flighted googly to leave Mumbai at 79 for one in the ninth overs. Watching the West Indian bat was pure delight for the packed weekend crowd at the Kotla. He got going by whacking pacer Kagiso Rabada over deep midwicket before slashing one hard over point for four runs.

The following over bowled by Zaheer Khan saw him hit another pull for a six. Patel’s fall meant two West Indians were at the crease with Pollard joining Simmons, increasing fans’ expectations for more entertainment. And that is what they both provided by taking the attack to the cleaners. Pollard spoiled Mishra’s figures by hammering him for four straight sixes with the last one landing on the third tier of Kotla.

Simmons, whose whirlwind innings comprised four sixes and five boundaries, fell to a rather ordinary ball bowled by Corey Anderson as he picked Marlon Samuels at short fine leg. Barring Zaheer, who returned from injury to lead the team, all bowlers were taken to task by the two West Indians. The decision to send Pollard ahead of Nitish Rana worked perfectly as he not only demolished the attack, he stayed till the end.  Just like Simmons, Pollard too ended with five fours and four sixes.

Australian Pat Cummins felt the heat in his very first over, conceding 19 runs with 16 of them coming in boundaries. He was in for more punishment in the final over of the innings with Hardik Pandya (29 off 14) following Pollard to clobber him for couple of sixes and a cracking four towards the point boundary.

The over went for 23 as Cummins ended with forgettable figures of 59 runs in four overs.