T20 World Cup 2021: At The End Of The Day He Was Out There Trying For Us, Says Kieron Pollard In The Defence Of Lendl Simmons' Knock

West Indies skipper Kieron Pollard has defended opener Lendl Simmons’ slow knock in the 18th match of ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 against Temba Bavuma-led South Africa National Cricket Team at Dubai International Cricket Stadium, on Tuesday, October 26.

Lendl Simmons has a horrible outing with the bat in the match. He alongside his opening partner Evin Lewis started slow, however, Lewis then accelerated his innings scoring 56 runs at the strike rate of 160. Simmons on the other hand kept struggling and was castled by Kagiso Rabada in the 14th over. He only managed to score 16 runs off 35 deliveries.

West Indies skipper during the post-match presentation said that not losing a wicket in powerplay was a good thing for the team. Pollard said:

“We haven’t scored enough runs. Batters haven’t come to the party, again disappointing today. I thought the first six overs in terms of end result.. 43/0, we will take that. Not losing wickets in the powerplay was important.”

Kieron Pollard added that Simmons got stuck but he was giving it all for the team. He stated:

” We lost a couple of wickets later and it was just stop start. Yes, he (Simmons) got stuck, these things happen. After six overs he was there and we wanted to bat a couple of more overs without losing wickets but you are not going to get me pinpoint and you are not going to get me throwing my players under the bus. At the end of the day, he was out there trying for us. “

It Was A Total Disappointing Batting Effort – Kieron Pollard

Pollard pinpointed that Proteas batter Rassie van der Dussen also played a slow knock 43(51). He also mentioned that overall West Indies had a disappointing batting effort which resulted in the team’s defeat. Kieron Pollard stated:

” Rassie played for them, the only difference is he came out not out but his strike rate was low as well. It was a total disappointing batting effort. We need to win first before thinking of the net run rate. I thought the bowlers did well to bring it down to 18 odd overs. Batting has disappointed us, which is why we lost today.”

South Africa chased the 144 runs target comfortably to defeat West Indies by 8 wickets and to hand over the second loss to West Indies in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021.

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