You give him the opportunity and he doesn’t disappoint you – that is Lendl Simmons for you. He has been thrusted into the playing XI in the past as well and has never taken too long to settle into the team. He scored his 10th IPL fifty tonight in just 23 matches for us. Winning the Man of the Match award in his first game this season shows the Trinidadian’s pedigree. Rohit Sharma went on to state that he is one of the best openers around. He tackled all the questions in the post-match conference.

Simmons has always enjoyed batting in the IPL. He is the second fastest to get to 1000 IPL runs and without doubt, he explains why he enjoys batting in the country. “Against Pakistan I did open the batting and playing in India is a different thing. I enjoy batting in India. The pitches are really good to bat on. Since I’ve come here, I’ve been practising and that’s been good for me.”

It isn’t easy for someone to be given a chance so late in the league stage. Most batsmen need time to get going, but Lendl Simmons got off the blocks from the word go and it boosted his confidence, which is a good sign for the team with the play-offs a few matches away. “It’s important for myself to get a good score. It’s good for my confidence and things went well.”

All this while, Simmons had been training and putting in the hard work. He was appreciative of how the support staff have backed him right from the start of the season. “After practice I get extra batting in the nets! The support has been good. It’s been influential, coming to India!”

Lendl Simmons took his time initially in the Powerplay, but he sized up the conditions and the bowlers before opening his shoulders. He elaborated on the strategy he employed tonight. “It was important not to lose a wicket, Zak is an experienced bowler. It was also important not to lose my head against him. It’s about momentum, and I had to assess the pitch. Once I did all of that, I teed off.”

Delhi had chased down huge totals in their last two games. Simmons knew that and the team wanted to get a big score on the board with the dew being a factor, later in the game. “I was surprised we batted first! They have chased 200 in the past! It was good to post a good total on the board. Malinga is bowling much better now. Getting early wickets worked well tonight in breaking their back-bone early.”

With Buttler set to return to England for the ODIs against South Africa, the tactic of giving Simmons a game well before the play-offs worked well for us. He has been a part of our successful IPL campaign in 2015 and knows how important it is to keep the momentum going into the next stage of the tournament. All the changes we have made in our line-ups this season have been positive for us. The players on the bench are ready and raring to go, the moment they are presented with an opportunity. Right now, the task at hand is to focus on one game at a time, as mentioned by our coach and our skipper. Keeping the momentum with us will be the key for our team.