Evin Lewis


Evin Earl Lewis is a Trinidadian cricketer who plays for the West Indies in limited over internationals. He plays as a left-handed opening batsman. Generally a fast scoring left-handed batsman, Lewis is the third batsman to score two Twenty20 International centuries.
Lewis made his first-class debut for the Trinidad and Tobago national team in March 2012. He had earlier represented the West Indies under-19s at the 2010 Under-19 World Cup. Lewis's senior debut for the West Indies came in March 2016, in a Twenty20 International against Afghanistan. His One Day International debut came later in the year, against Pakistan.

Early career

Lewis was born in Rio Claro, Trinidad. He represented the West Indies under-19s at the 2010 Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand, playing three matches. He had earlier represented the team in the 2009–10 WICB President's Cup, the domestic limited-overs competition.

Domestic and T20 franchise career

Lewis made his first-class debut for Trinidad and Tobago in March 2012, in the 2011–12 Regional Four Day Competition. Later in the year, he represented the team in the 2012 Champions League Twenty20 in South Africa, playing a single match.
At the 2013 Champions League Twenty20 in India, Lewis scored 211 runs from five innings, finished as his team's leading run-scorer. His tournament included scores of 70 from 35 balls against the Titans and 62 from 46 balls in the semi-final against the Mumbai Indians. For the 2014 Caribbean Premier League, Lewis signed with the T&T Red Steel franchise, and scored 321 runs from eight innings. He switched to the new St Kitts and Nevis Patriots franchise for the 2015 edition, and scored the third-most runs for his team. Later in 2015, Lewis signed with the Barisal Bulls franchise for the inaugural season of the Bangladesh Premier League. In one match against the Dhaka Dynamites, he scored 101 not out from 65 balls, the tournament's only century. Lewis now represents Dhaka Dynamites in the competition after a blitzkrieg for them in his short stint in the 2016 edition.
In the 2017 Caribbean Premier League, he will for the first time open the batting with his mentor Chris Gayle for an entire season at the St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots which also includes West Indies T20 captain Carlos Brathwaite. He was selected in the T20 XI of the year 2017 by ESPNCricinfo and Cricbuzz.
On 3 June 2018, he was selected to play for the Vancouver Knights in the players' draft for the inaugural edition of the Global T20 Canada tournament.
In October 2018, he was named in the squad for the Comilla Victorians team, following the draft for the 2018–19 Bangladesh Premier League. He was released by the Mumbai Indians ahead of the 2020 IPL auction. In July 2020, he was named in the St Kitts & Nevis Patriots squad for the 2020 Caribbean Premier League.

International career

In March 2016, Lewis was added to the West Indies squad for the 2016 ICC World Twenty20, replacing the injured Lendl Simmons. He made his Twenty20 International debut on 27 March 2016 against Afghanistan at Nagpur
In his very second T20I, Lewis scored a blistering century against India in the first match of the series in the USA. He scored the century off 48 balls, which was the second fastest by a West Indian after Gayle and sixth fastest overall. During his innings, he hit 5 sixes off 5 balls in an over bowled by Stuart Binny. He couldn't send the last ball out of the park but made 32 runs in that over. The West Indies scored 245 runs and finally, after a thrilling finish, won by one run. The match set a new record for the most sixes in a T20I and Lewis won man-of-the-match.
He made his One Day International debut for the West Indies against Pakistan on 5 October 2016. He scored his maiden ODI century of 148 against Sri Lanka at Harare Sports Club in Zimbabwe Tri-series. While wickets fell around him, he batted maturely and struck meaty blows when the opportunity came. The boundary laden knock included 15 fours and 4 maximums. The fact that he did all this while having cramps showed his mental strength and his ability to strike the ball with minimal movement. He couldn't carry the West Indies to victory in what would have been a record chase. Despite the success he found in Zimbabwe, he was unable to carry his form in the series against England, Pakistan and India.
He made his second T20I hundred on 9 July 2017 against India at Sabina Park. He smashed 125*, which is recorded as the in a T20I chase and also became the third and the fastest batsman to two international T20 tons after Brendon McCullum and Chris Gayle. It was also the . Lewis, in fact, set a new record for becoming the first batsman to score 2 centuries against a same opposition in T20I history as well.
In February 2018, the International Cricket Council named Lewis as one of the ten players to watch ahead of the 2018 Cricket World Cup Qualifier tournament. In June 2018, he was named the T20 International Cricketer of the Year at the annual Cricket West Indies' Awards.
In April 2019, he was named in the West Indies' squad for the 2019 Cricket World Cup.