The T20 World Cup is knocking at the door and many teams have announced their squads. Before every edition of the tournament, the squad that catches the attention of every cricket fan is the West Indies squad. After all, they have been one of the most entertaining and successful teams when it comes to this particular tournament.
It’s a similar story this year as well. Though the Caribbean side is currently ranked 9th in ICC Men's T20 Rankings, they will not at all be taken lightly.
The West Indies squad for the 2021 T20 World Cup contains some valiant hitters of the ball, brilliant fielders, in-form bowlers and some experienced and infamous campaigners of T20 cricket.
The side is captained by Kieron Pollard who became the first cricketer to have played 400 T20 matches in 2018. Andre Russell is another very experienced campaigner and big hitter who will be a key middle-order batsman for the Caribbean side. His strike rate of 156.33 speaks for himself. Also his seam bowling is quite effective at the death overs.
Chris Gayle, the Jamaican T20 legend who played most of his matches as an opener, recently batted at number 3 in the 5-match T20 series against Australia in July. The other openers in the squad, Evin Lewis and Lendl Simmons can both provide a good start for the team, while Andre Fletcher hasn’t quite been at his best currently.
Nicholas Pooran, the 25-year old has been selected as the vice captain of the West Indies side. Shimron Hetmyer is another middle-order name every opponent would be aware of considering his game changing big hitting abilities. Fabian Allen, the batting all-rounder will not only be expected to deliver with the bat. His handy left arm spin can be used by the captain to bring some important breakthroughs if he's in the playing XI.
In the ongoing CPL 2021, the highest run scorer and wicket taker after 10 matches are Roston Chase and Ravi Rampaul respectively, with 367 runs and 18 wickets. Both of them have made it to the West Indies squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup. Ravi Rampaul has played the tournament before, and his experience should play a big part this time.
Talking about experienced West Indies players, Dwayne Bravo's name comes at the very beginning because he has tons of it as far as this format is concerned. The 37 year-old will be looking forward to maintaining his low economy rate and good bowling average in the tournament and contribute with the bat as well.
T20 has recently been very much about the wrist spinners, and West Indies' Hayden Walsh has been a brilliant performer recently. He was awarded the player of the series in the 5-match T20 series against Australia in 2021, after picking up 12 wickets.
In the mentioned series, Obed McCoy picked up 5 wickets in 2 matches and his accurate back-of-the-hand slower deliveries were highly praised. He can be a surprise package of the T20 World Cup for West Indies.
Unlike Oshane Thomas having a T20I economy of 9.16 playing 17 matches, Obed McCoy's economy is 7.7 having played 12 international T20 matches. Among the travelling reserves, there is Akeal Hossain who has an economy of just 4.74 in this year's CPL so far.
Experience, youth, big hitters, wicket taking bowlers - West Indies has them all.
