The West Indies cricket team has long been a dominant force in the T20 International (T20I) arena, celebrated for their explosive style and limited-overs expertise.
Having twice lifted the ICC T20 World Cup trophy, the ‘men in maroon’ have consistently demonstrated their capacity to excel when it matters the most.
After a rare, disappointing campaign in 2022, the team is eager to make amends and reassert its dominance.
This year’s tournament holds added significance as the West Indies are co-hosts, setting the stage for a potential third title in front of a passionate home crowd.
On May 3, the West Indies Cricket Board announced their 15-player squad, which includes several players fresh off impressive performances in the IPL 2024 in India.
We spotlight five key West Indies players from their 15-member group who could prove to be game-changers at the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2024.
1. Nicholas Pooran
Perennial West Indies power-hitter Nicholas Pooran concluded his IPL 2024 campaign with nearly 500 runs to his name at an astonishing strike rate of 178.21. After a brief lean patch during the middle stages of the tournament, Pooran’s 26-ball 48* against SRH, 27-ball 61 against Capitals, and a match-winning 29-ball 75 against Mumbai Indians towards the end signaled his spectacular return to form just at the edge of West Indies’ 2024 T20 World Cup quest.
A veteran of over 300 T20 matches, including 88 internationals, Pooran’s expansive limited-overs experience is poised to come in handy for West Indies, especially on the familiar surfaces of Trinidad’s Brian Lara Cricket Academy. Moreover, the 28-year-old wicketkeeper-batter is also one of the very few individuals lined up for the 2024 T20 World Cup who also happens to be familiar with the playing surfaces of the USA through his MLC commitment.
2. Andre Russell
A two-time T20 World Cup winner for the West Indies, Andre Russell’s field presence holds a formidable aura in the game’s shortest format. The broad-shouldered Jamaican has experience in nearly 500 T20 matches. Moreover, his expansive T20 journey has glittered with over 8,000 runs at a strike rate of 169.80 and nearly 450 wickets at an impressive bowling average of 25.32.
Russell also capped a remarkable all-round show for himself in the league stage set of IPL 2024 fixtures for the KKR franchise. In nine appearances with the bat, the cricketer hammered 222 runs at a strike rate of 185 and chipped in with 15 wickets from 13 bowling innings. Russell’s burgeoning talent in both trades of the game was one of the many driving factors behind KKR’s first-place finish at the points table.
His unyielding quest for T20 glory, overall reputation, and recent form make him one of West Indies’ best bets to excel at the 2024 T20 World Cup at home.
3. Shimron Hetmyer
Shimron Hetmyer surely made his limited opportunities count for the Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2024. Mostly commanding the lower order, the Guyana-based hard-hitting radical maintained a strike rate of 184.44 from seven innings. In the match against Punjab Kings around the halfway stage of the tournament, the left-hander punched out a sizzling 10-ball 27* to pull off a remarkable run-chase heist for the Royals in Mullanpur.
Hetmyer’s torrid style with the bat surely packs a punch, as evidenced by his overall T20 strike rate of nearly 135 and through his rising reputation as the game’s meta finisher.
After missing out on the West Indies squad for the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia due to a “missed flight,” Hetmyer will aim to take center stage at the 2024 event in front of a passionate Caribbean crowd with a point to prove.
4. Rovman Powell
Rovman Powell, fast-tracked into replacing Nicholas Pooran as West Indies’ T20I captain after the 2022 horror show in Australia, led his team to memorable series wins over South Africa, India, and England in a space of 12 months.
While Powell’s winning run for West Indies was eventually hampered in Australia in February this year with a 1-2 defeat, his team did put up a fight to remember in the high-scoring series opener before completely annihilating the hosts in the dead rubber the following week.
As a batter, the hard-hitting Jamaican has so far scored more than 1,300 runs at a strike rate of 144.81 in 61 international innings and nearly 4,000 overs in all T20 matches, with 16 fifty-plus scores to his name. Powell’s penchant for big hits and sixes can also be evidenced by his boundary numbers, which feature more maximums than fours across all T20s.
5. Shamar Joseph
Yet to play a single limited-overs match for West Indies in international cricket, Shamar Joseph was fast-tracked into the team’s 2024 T20 World Cup composition following his stellar show with the ball in Australia early this year.
Moreover, the 24-year-old Guyanese also has little to no white-ball experience at domestic levels, having played just three T20 matches and two 50-overs games, which yielded just two wickets for the speedster.
Joseph’s astral rise to global prominence merely for his Australian summer of Test brilliance stands as a testament to the trust placed by the West Indies Cricket Board in him. A Test superstar in the making, the youngster will be keen to leave his mark for the West Indies in colored clothing through the upcoming 2024 T20 World Cup at home.