The limited-overs specialist from the West Indies, Lendl Simmons, has picked his all-time T20 XI and named MS Dhoni as captain. Simmons picked four Indians and as many West Indies players in his team. Surprisingly, Simmons did not select T20 veterans like Suresh Raina and Lasith Malinga in his playing XI.
As openers, Simmons named his countryman Chris Gayle, who is the highest run-scorer in white-ball cricket for West Indies and India’s current T20I skipper Rohit Sharma, who has scored four tons in the shortest format and won five IPL titles for Mumbai Indians (MI).
For the 3rd and 4th spot, Simmons went with India’s run-machine Virat Kohli and South African legend AB de Villiers. Virat is the second-highest run-scorer in T20Is and all-time leading run-scorer in the IPL. Whereas De Villiers has played 78 T20Is, scoring 1672 runs with a strike rate of 135.16. The former Proteas skipper has recently announced his retirement from all forms of cricket.
Further in the middle order, Simmons selected the power-hitter Kieron Pollard and Indian legend Dhoni. When it comes to limited-overs cricket, Pollard is a brute force. Apart from being a West Indies skipper, he is also the captain of Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL). So far, Pollard has featured in 93 T20Is where he has scored 1468 runs with a strike rate of 135.84.
Speaking about Dhoni, he started his T20I career by leading Team India to victory in the ICC T20 World Cup 2007. Recently, he led Chennai based franchise Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to victory in the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Simmons has picked Dwayne Bravo as the second all-rounder in his side. Bravo has appeared in all the seven T20 World Cups and lifted the trophy in 2012 and 2016 for his national team. He played 90 T20Is for West Indies, scoring 1245 runs and bagging 78 wickets.
Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan and Sunil Narine of West Indies were the two specialist spinners in Simmons’ line-up. For the pacers, the Trinidadian went with India’s Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Kagiso Rabada of South Africa.
Lendl Simmons’ all time XI:
Chris Gayle, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Kieron Pollard, MS Dhoni (c & wk), Dwayne Bravo, Rashid Khan, Sunil Narine, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kagiso Rabada
