MUMBAI, India, March 31: Lendl Simmons hit an unbeaten 82 off 51 balls as West Indies defeated India by seven wickets in the second semifinal of the World Twenty20 tournament on Thursday.
Simmons, who joined the West Indies only after Andre Fletcher was injured in the last group match, was twice caught off no-balls but smacked seven fours and five sixes to guide his team to 196-3 in 19.4 overs.
India had relied on Virat Kohli's unbeaten 92 off 47 balls to score 192-2 but Simmons and Johnson Charles (52) took up the charge in a disciplined run-chase after Chris Gayle was dismissed in the second over.
West Indies, which won the 2012 tournament, will now take on England in the final at Kolkata on Sunday.
After Oprah’s exit, Russell Simmons doc acquired by HBO Max
Virat powers India to 192-2
Virat Kohli produced another brilliant half century at the World Twenty20 and guided India to 192-2 against West Indies in the semifinal on Thursday.
Kohli made West Indies pay for missing a run out opportunity early in his innings to score unbeaten 89 off 47 balls with 11 fours and a six after captain Darren Sammy won the toss and opted to field.
Rohit Sharma (43) and Ajinkya Rahane (40) provided India its best start in the tournament by putting on 62 runs off 44 balls before Kohli took charge.
Kohli punctuated his third half century in the tournament with his trademark brisk running between the wickets and enabled India to add 65 runs in the last five overs.
Samuel Badree got 1-26 and Andre Russell conceded 19 runs in his last over to finish with 1-47.
West Indies wins toss, elects to field against India
West Indies captain Darren Sammy won the toss and opted to field against India at the World Twenty20 semifinal between the two former champions on Thursday.
India, the 2007 champion, dropped out of form opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan, who scored only 43 in the four group matches, and brought in Ajinkya Rahane.
Manish Pandey replaced Yuvraj Singh after the allrounder twisted his ankle in the last group match against Australia and was ruled out of the tournament.
West Indies, which won the World Twenty20 title in 2012, also made two changes from the side which lost the last group match against spirited Afghanistan by six runs.
Chris Gayle returned to open the innings instead of Evin Lewis, while Lendl Simmons will be playing his first match of the tournament, replacing the injured Andre Fletcher.
Winner of Thursday's semifinal will meet 2010 champion England in the final at Kolkata on Sunday.
Lineups:
India: Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, , Manish Pandey, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ashish Nehra, Jasprit Bumrah
West Indies: Johnson Charles, Chris Gayle, Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons, Denesh Ramdin, Dwayne Bravo, Andre Russell, Darren Sammy (captain), Carlos Brathwaite, Samuel Badree, Sulieman Benn.
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