Antigua. This time the ICC T20 World Cup is going to be something special. The team which could not make it to this mega tournament last time will play as the host. Till date in the history of T20 World Cup, no host has been able to win the title. Darren Sammy, who made West Indies the T20 champion twice as captain, would like to break this sequence as the head coach this time.
No host has been able to win the T20 World Cup in the last eight seasons. Sammy hopes that this time he will break this myth in the tournaments to be held in West Indies and America. In 2012, Sri Lanka lost to West Indies in the final in Colombo. Chasing the target of 138 runs to win, the Sri Lankan team was all out for 101 runs. Four years later, West Indies won the title for the second time by defeating England at Eden Gardens. At that time, Carlos Brathwaite had hit four consecutive sixes in the last over of Ben Stokes.
Sammy was made the limited overs head coach of West Indies last year. Only Johnson Charles and Andre Russell who play with him are in this team. “We know how to pick a winning team,” Sammy told the Caribbean media. “We have done this before and this time too we are very excited about the tournament.” We started preparing for the last World Cup in Australia.
The West Indies team was eliminated in the group stage of the 2021 T20 World Cup in the UAE. At the same time, in the tournament held in Australia in 2022, the team captained by Nicholas Pooran could not qualify for the main draw. This time there is no pressure of captaincy on Pooran and he can prove to be a trump card in the middle order. He scored 499 runs for Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL. The host team will miss Sunil Narine, who has performed brilliantly for Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL this season. Sammy could not convince him to change his decision of retirement from international cricket.
West Indies have to play their first two matches of Group C against Papua New Guinea and Uganda on June 2 and 9. After this, there will be a match against New Zealand on June 13 and Afghanistan on June 18. The top two teams from each group will advance to the Super Eight.
first published : May 21, 2024, 3:12 pm IST
