West Indies most successful side in T20 World Cup history will have to go through the qualifiers to reach the Super 12 round of this year’s tournament, and the build-up for the two-time champions, led by Nicholas Pooran, could not be more chaotic.
The squad for this tournament was controversial, with the recall of Johnson Charles and Yannic Cariah after a couple of years, as well as the removal of the more experienced Andre Russell and Sunil Narine. However, Russell was dropped because of his poor form and Narine’s “lack of interest” chief selector Desmond Haynes said.
Also at the last minute Shimron Hetmayr ditched his rescheduled flight and the board sent Brooks to Australia instead. Accordingly, with many crises, the West Indies team will start the Group B tournament against the Scotland team on Monday in Hobart.
West Indies young captain Nicholas Pooran told the media that the team does not have much experience but because they have played together, the communication between each other is excellent.
“We understand that we don’t have as much experience in the room. But we have been playing cricket together for the entire year so we do understand each other a little better now.”
However, the fact that Jason Holder, Nicholas Pooran, Odean Smith, and several other players in the team have played in the world’s leading franchises greatly benefits the team.
Also, the strong batsmen of the concluded CPL tenth season like Brandon King, Kyle Meyers and Rovman Powell as well as Brooks are part of the squad, so the team’s batting will be able to maintain a stable level.
The West Indies captain further commented,
“This entire year we have been through our ups and downs. We’ve been all over the world. We’ve been losing cricket games. We’ve been winning games and we’ve been performing as a group. We have stuck together and we’re here today and obviously, we’re here to fight again.”
The first match of T20 World Cup 16 will be played between Sri Lanka and Namibia.