Saturday, January 30, 2016

West Indies 15 Men Strong Squad for ICC WT20 2016 Announced

West Indies have announced a strong 15 men squad who will represent them at the upcoming ICC World T20 event in India in March-April later this year. The squad includes 11 players who were a part of their Fantastico victorious campaign way back in 2012 in Sri Lanka.

The squad will be led by the hard hitting all-rounder Darren Sammy under whom the team won in Sri Lanka as well. The four new comers include the current test and ODI captain Jason Holder, hard hitting opening batsman Andre Fletcher (he can be a backup wicket keeper as well), slow left arm spinner Suleiman Benn and their current pace bowling spearhead Jerome Taylor.

There are no new faces in the squad but there is plenty to talk about regarding this selection. Mystery spinner Sunil Narine has been picked after he was suspended from bowling in international cricket last November after being reported in Sri Lanka during an ODI last year. In case Narine does not play West Indies have Samuel Badree and Suleiman Benn who can be threatening and dangerous spinners, the former with his variations and the later with his height.

Super talented all-rounder’s and impact players Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard have also been picked after they were controversially snubbed by the West Indies for the ICC World Cup 2015 in Australia. They will lend solidity to the lower middle order and along with Sammy provide big hitting options down the order. All three can also bowl medium pace bowling and with their changes of pace and clever variations they can prove handful customers on the Indian tracks.

Lendl Simmons and Chris Gayle have plenty of experience of Indian tracks having excelled in the IPL for Mumbai Indians and Bangalore Royal Challengers respectively. They will be looking to emulate their success for the West Indies.

The hero of their 2012 campaign Marlon Samuels also finds a place in this strong squad despite being going through a horror run of form recently in all forms of the game. Denesh Ramdin will keep wickets and Darren Bravo is also picked after his superlative efforts in Australia.

I believe that the men the West Indian selectors have picked to represent them in the ICC World T20 is a very strong one. They have all the ingredients to set the stage alight and have match winners right through their line-up. They might have slacked off in test match cricket but remain a big threat in T20I’s and if this West Indian team gets on a roll then it will be nigh on impossible to stop their juggernaut.

The West Indies squad is given below:
Darren Sammy (capt), Samuel Badree, Sulieman Benn, Darren Bravo, Dwayne Bravo, Andre Fletcher, Chris Gayle, Jason Holder, Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard, Denesh Ramdin, Andre Russell, Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons, Jerome Taylor

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.

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