The Lanka Premier League 2020: ‘This is new for me’, says Phil Simmons on participation of Andre Russell

The head coach of West Indies Phil Simmons disclosed that he was unaware of the Andre Russell’s participation in the Lanka Premier League (LPL) 2020.

West Indies head coach Phil Simmons disclosed that he was heedless about the participation of the all-rounder star Andre Russell in the Lanka Premier League (LPL)2020. The coach was surprised with the fact because Andre Russell made himself unavailable for the selection for West Indies tour to New Zealand.

Cricket West Indies (CWI) had earlier stated that Andre Russell, along with Lendl Simmons and Evin Lewis, had made themselves unavailable for selection.

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“CWI fully respects their decision to choose to do so and states that this will not impact consideration for future selection” a statement from CWI read.

The reasons for Andre Russell’s absence were initially not clear, but it may be assumed that the absence was due to the hamstring injury that he had during the IPL 2020.

“He (Russell) wasn’t really handling the whole thing very well and that he needed some time to clear his head and get himself together because he’s been going from one lockdown, so to speak, to another.” said Harper

When questioned about Andre Russell’s participation in the LPL instead of being on the tour to New Zealand, the West Indies head coach said.

“Is he? That’s news to me” was his response. “I haven’t spoken to him since we came down here (to New Zealand), He was at the IPL and I haven’t spoken to him since then. I didn’t know he was in Sri Lanka. I can’t answer your question about that until I know what the whole situation is.” continued the coach”.

Andre Russell will mostly be a part of the Colombo Kings when they take on the Kandy Tuskers in the opening game of the LPL 2020 on the 26th of November.

West Indies will play 3T20Is followed by 2 Test matches on their tour to New Zealand.