CWI selector on Andre Russell, Sunil Narine’s exclusion from T20 World Cup squad

Andre Russell and Sunil Narine in IPL

Cricket West Indies have announced their 15-player squad for next month’s T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia. Interestingly, star all-rounders Andre Russell and Sunil Narine were some of the names missing from the side, set to be led by dynamic batter Nicholas Pooran.

Quite recently, CWI selector and West Indies legend Desmond Haynes explained the decision behind their exclusion. 

In a press conference, the former West Indies cricketer said that the board had a meeting with Russell earlier this year. Haynes further stated that they were not convinced of Russell because he was not performing well.

“We're still not convinced yet, he's not performing as well as we would like to see him in the competition. I think in the situation with Andre Russell, we've just decided to move on, and look for someone who's in form, and doing well in the T20 format.”

When asked about Sunil Narine’s omission from the T20 World Cup squad, the CWI selector said that they did not receive any notice from the cricketer regarding his availability for the tournament.

“I did not get any notice from Narine regarding his availability to play. There were conversations that Nicholas Pooran was having with Narine, and from all reports, it seemed that he was not interested.”

West Indies will commence their T20 World Cup 2022 campaign with a Group B qualifying match against Scotland on October 17. The two-time winners will then face Zimbabwe and Ireland in their subsequent two games on October 19 and October 21 respectively.

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