If anyone would have to dig
their own grave, it has to be West Indies. They were progressing so well under
Sammy. They were coming in as a team and were strong contenders for the 2014
T20 World Cup, but somehow, the captaincy moved onto Bravo and now to highly
inexperienced Holder.
Yes, the shocking
removal of Bravo and Pollard from the team has gone to waste all the good
created by Hinds and Sammy in the last 2 years. This team will be lead by
Holder who is just 23 years of age and has overall played only about 26 matches
since 2013 and not a regular ODI player in the side. His economy average is
startling at 5.55. If one has to look at other bowlers, they don’t paint a rosy
picture either with Cottrell having an economy rate of 8.23, Roach at 4.90,
Russell at 5.70 and Taylor at 4.97. Their bowling unit is very raw.
Their batting weighs
heavily on Samuels, Gayle and Smith, and the last 2 have not been in any
dominating form, of late. Smith has been in the side because of his IPL form. Darren
Bravo has just come back from an injury and it will be interesting to see how
he fares along with Lendl Simmons.
Also, West Indies are in
a critical stage of the pool where they need to face the giants like India,
Pakistan, South Africa. But since they have the option of playing against
minnows Ireland, Zimbabwe ad UAE, they might feel they have a slight edge over these teams
atleast on paper. But, on the other hand, Ireland and Zimbabwe will be eyeing
against West Indies to topple them and if West Indies losses to one of them,
their entry to the Quarter final stage will be in jeopardy.
Batsmen:Brathwaite, Darren
Bravo, Gayle, Lendl Simmons, Smith, Samuels, Carter,
Bowlers: Holder, Taylor,
Benn, Sheldon Cottrell, Miller, Roach
All rounders: Ramdin,
Sammy, Russell,
Fixtures:
Vs Ireland – Nelson –
Feb 16th
Vs Pakistan –
Christchurch – Feb 21st
Vs Zimbabwe – Canberra –
Feb 24th
Vs South Africa – SCG –
Feb 27th
Vs India – Perth – Mar 6th
Vs UAE – Napier – Mar 15th
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