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Defending champions West Indies name World T20 squad without Narine; Rampaul, Chase earn call up

Mayank Kumar∙ Sep 9 2021, 11:33 PM | timer 3 Min Read

The defending champions West Indies have named their squad for the upcoming edition of the ICC World T20 scheduled to be played in the UAE and Oman. 

The squad will be led by Kieron Pollard while Nicholas Pooran, who earlier this year was rated as the future of West Indies by the skipper himself has been elevated as the vice-captain of the men in maroon.

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The likes of Evin Lewis, Shimron Hetmyer, Andre Fletcher strengthen the youth and flair quotient of the Windies batting group that is already enriched with the presence of heavyweights such as Pollard, Chris Gayle, Andre Russell, Dwayne Bravo.

The bowling department appears a bit thin with the absence of Narine but the emergence of Hayden Walsh Jr. in the recent past augurs well for the Windies on those pitches in the UAE and Oman. He has had a successful run of form against Australia and South Africa in the recent past and the leg-spinner will be hoping for replication of his performance against those sides as they are placed in the same group as the Windies. 

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The quartet of Darren Bravo, Sheldon Cottrell, Jason Holder and Akeal Hosein has been selected as reserves to travel with the side.

The selection of players is on the expected lines except for the non-selection of Sunil Narine and the selection of Ravi Rampaul and Roston Chase. The recent performances in the ongoing edition of the Caribbean Premier League would have tipped the selectors in favour of Rampaul and Chase. Rampaul has returned to the Windies squad in the shortest format for the first time since 2015 while Chase has earned a maiden call up.

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“Ravi Rampaul is a highly experienced bowler who performed well in the last CG Insurance Super50 Cup and the current Hero CPL to date. He will boost the team's wicket-taking options in the power-play and the middle phase and will provide another option for the death overs. Roston Chase has shown that he is a very capable T20 player. He performed well in the CPL in 2020 and has been outstanding in the 2021 edition so far. He has shown the ability to knit the innings together while still scoring at a fast rate with a low dot-ball percentage. He will be an excellent foil for the explosive players in the team,” Windies’ lead selector Roger Harper explained the reasoning behind the selection of Rampaul and Chase in the side.

West Indies will start the defence of their championship title against their opponent in the final of the last edition—England on October 23 in UAE.

Squad: Kieron Pollard (capt), Nicholas Pooran (vice-capt), Fabian Allen, Dwayne Bravo, Roston Chase, Andre Fletcher, Chris Gayle, Shimron Hetmyer, Evin Lewis, Obed McCoy, Ravi Rampaul, Andre Russell, Lendl Simmons, Oshane Thomas, Hayden Walsh Jr

Reserves: Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Sheldon Cottrell, Darren Bravo

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