T20 WC: Ravi Rampaul earns recall as West Indies announce squad; Gayle included but Narine left out
Sep 09, 2021
St John's [Antigua], September 10 : The Cricket West Indies (CWI) selection panel on Thursday announced the West Indies squad for the ICC men's T20 World Cup.
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.
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.
"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," Roger Harper, CWI's lead selector said in a statement.
"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," he added.
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.
"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," Harper said.
"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," he added.
West Indies squad: Kieron Pollard (Captain), Nicholas Pooran (Vice Captain), Fabian Allen, Dwayne Bravo, Roston Chase, Andre Fletcher, Chris Gayle, Shimron Hetmyer, Evin Lewis, Obed McCoy, Lendl Simmons, Ravi Rampaul, Andre Russell, Oshane Thomas, Hayden Walsh jr
Reserves: Darren Bravo, Sheldon Cottrell, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein
