Big names return in West Indies side for Pakistan, Australia, South Africa T20I series

With the T20 World Cup round the corner, the West Indies had opened up all their cards and brought back the major players in the side. Windies named Chris Gayle, Evin Lewis, Andree Russell, and Dwayne Bravo back in the squad for Pakistan, Australia, and South Africa T20 series.

The 18-men team will play three back-to-back T20I series against South Africa, Australia, and Pakistan and after that, they will also be playing ODI and Test series against South Africa.

Sheldon Cottrell, Shimron Hetmyer, Andre Russell, Oshane Thomas and Hayden Walsh Jr. return alongside the majority of the squad, last time they featured in the Sri Lankan series where Windies won by 2-1.

Nicholas Pooran will play the role of Kieron Pollard's deputy as Pollard is the captain of the limited over the side for his national team.

Almost all the T20I giants are back in the team apart from Sunil Narine who is still not ready or not being considered for the international cricket.

CWI’s Lead Selector, Roger Harper, explained the thinking behind naming the squad and said, “The Provisional T20I Squad was put together with all T20I Home Series Matches against South Africa, Australia and Pakistan in mind. This gives us the opportunity to continue to build towards the upcoming World Cup and to determine our best squad and our ideal eleven.”

Coach Phil Simmons expressed confidence in going into the summer of cricket and looking forward to the upcoming World Cup in India, which might be shifted to other alternatives of COVID surge in India does not come back to normal or declines.

“These upcoming T20Is are crucial in terms of our preparation for the ICC T20 World Cup. We have assembled a very solid squad — with experienced world-class match-winners and some exciting young talented players, ready to explode onto the global stage and do great things for West Indies cricket.

"We are at that point where we have identified those who we will look to be the core of the squad to defend our World Cup title, so we want to make sure the upcoming matches create that environment — the way we train, the way we plan, the way we execute and the chemistry within the group. We won five years ago, so the next few weeks and months will be major steppingstones on the road towards defending our title and being World Champions for a third time," he said.

West Indies T20I squad: Kieron Pollard (capt), Nicholas Pooran (wk), Fabian Allen, Dwayne Bravo, Sheldon Cottrell, Fidel Edwards, Andre Fletcher, Chris Gayle, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Evin Lewis, Obed McCoy, Andre Russell, Lendl Simmons, Oshane Thomas, Hayden Walsh Jnr