World T20: Gayle, Rampaul included in West Indies squad

The Cricket West Indies (CWI) Selection Panel on Thursday announced the West Indies squad for the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Men’s T20 World Cup, 2021.

Current Caribbean Premeir League standouts, Sherfane Rutherford and Romario Shepherd were not selected.

The panel named fifteen (15) players and four (4) travelling reserves for the marquee event which will be played in the United Arab Emirates and Oman from October 17 to November 14, 2021.

West Indies are the defending world champions and only two-time winners of the ICC T20 World Cup, winning in 2012 against Sri Lanka at the Premadasa in Colombo then four years later in 2016 against England in Kolkata. The West Indies now have the opportunity to create further history by becoming the first team to win a hat-trick of ICC T20 World Cup victories.

Experienced bowler Ravi Rampaul, a member of the 2012 winning World Cup squad, has been recalled for the first time since 2015. All-rounder Roston Chase is called up to the West Indies T20I squad for the first time.

According to a CWI press release, Roger Harper, CWI’s Lead Selector said: “The squad is one with good depth and strength in all departments. There is tremendous T20 experience along with World Cup winning experience which should stand the team in good stead. This squad is made up of many world-beating players who, once knitted into a world-beating team, will be extremely difficult to beat. I expect the team to do very well and with the ‘rub of the green’ I think the team has a good chance of defending the title.”

Harper added: “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.”

West Indies have been drawn in Group 1 and will play five group games against England, South Africa and Australia along with the winner of Round 1 Group A (Sri Lanka, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Namibia) and the runner-up from Round 1 Group B (Bangladesh, Scotland, Papua New Guinea, and Oman). West Indies’ first group game will be against England in Dubai on October 23. (CWI)