Lendl Simmons

Nephew of former West Indies allrounder Phil Simmons, Lendl, has been a consistent opener for Trinidad and Tobago. He has also represented the West Indies team at the Under-19 World Cups in 2002 and 2004. In 2009, he registered his highest First-Class score of 282 against England A, which led to him earning the West Indies cap in the succeeding Tests against the senior England side. However, he failed to replicate that crunching performance against England A and till date, his highest Test score is a modest 49. Interestingly, he has been more prolific in the shorter formats of the game.

A clean striker of the ball, who has recently developed the art of building an innings, Simmons remains an integral component of the West Indies limited overs team. In fact, after the inaugural Caribbean Premier League, where he accrued 266 runs for Guyana Amazon Warriors, he was praised and selectors started to take note of his skills.

Simmons was signed up by the IPL franchise, Mumbai, in 2014. He was named as a replacement for Jalaj Saxena. The Trinidad & Tobago batsman made the most of the opportunity he got. In the 11 matches that he played, Simmons scored a staggering 490 runs, including his first T20 hundred. Simmons' rip-roaring performance, earned him a permanent spot in the T20I side. He was a part of the West Indies unit in World T20 2014 in Bangladesh, but failed to impress as the Caribbean outfit lost in the semi-finals. Simmons remains a key member of the squad in the shorter formats. The selectors named Simmons in the 15-man 2015 World Cup squad.

Simmons enjoyed a good start to the 2015 campaign that included a quick-fire century against Ireland and a fifty against Pakistan. Later, he played an integral part in Mumbai Indians lifting the IPL trophy that year.

The Man of the Match award in the World T20 semifinal versus India is perhaps his claim to fame. Simmons was initially stood ruled out of the tournament due to a back injury but was flown in as a replacement for injured Andre Fletcher just before the semifinal, where scored a 51-ball 82 to lead Windies into the finals that they won.