Evin Lewis

"I hit a lot of sixes, big sixes like him," Evin Lewis said when asked why he chose Chris Gayle as his mentor. And when he got to open the batting with Gayle for West Indies, Lewis showed his power-hitting skills, smashing 12 sixes and six fours in his maiden T20I hundred, against India in 2017 at Gayle's home ground, Sabina Park.

Two months later, Lewis and Gayle chased down 129 in seven overs for St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in the CPL, the younger batter overshadowing the veteran with his unbeaten 97 off 32 balls.

Lewis was part of West Indies' 2016 T20 World Cup-winning squad, although he played only one match and scored no runs. However, in his second T20I, playing as a replacement for Gayle, he hit a 48-ball hundred, also against India, in a knock that included five consecutive sixes.

Lewis' new-age approach translated to one-day cricket as well: he hit an epic 130-ball 176 against England at The Oval in 2017. However he had a quiet World Cup in England two years later, averaging only 26.

Like Gayle, Lewis reserved his best for the T20 circuit. In 2013, he was Trinidad & Tobago's top scorer in the Champions League with a strike rate of 141.61. He showed big-match credentials, with 62 off 46 balls in the semi-final against a Mumbai Indians attack comprising Mitchell Johnson and Harbhajan Singh. The following year, at the CPL, he was T&T Red Steel's top scorer, and his performances started attracting interest overseas.

In 2018, he made his IPL debut, scoring 382 runs in 13 matches for MI. While this might have been the promise for more to come, two further stints - with the Rajasthan Royals and Lucknow Super Giants - did not bring similar results. His IPL and international returns plateaued around the same time. He was only sporadically in the T20I set-up after that, playing only 11 matches in the format between 2022 and 2024.

But a second wind arrived with strong white-ball performances against Bangladesh and England in 2024, and a vintage blitz against Ireland in 2025, suggested more to come from Lewis as a senior batter in a young side.