West Indies’ Nicholas Pooran raises his bat to celebrate scoring 50 runs during the third and final one-day international cricket match of the series between India and West Indies in Cuttack, India, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2019.
Associated Press/Mahesh Kumar A., file
All-rounder Andre Russell, Andre Fletcher, mystery spinner Sunil Narine and all-rounder Fabien Allen were left out of the West Indies captain’s 15-man squad for the T20 World Cup to be held in Australia from Oct. 16-Nov. 13.
But the surprise inclusions were Trinidad and Tobago right-arm spinner Yanic Carricah and Barbados opener Johnson Charles, while all-rounder Raymond Reifer have both been named in the squad.
Chief selector Desmond Haynes revealed that after discussions with coach Phil Simmons, hard-hitting Evin Lewis has been withdrawn from the Windies squad, having been unavailable since the 2021 T20 World Cup.
Nicholas Pooran will lead the team in his first World Cup as captain, with Rovman Powell as vice-captain.
Russell was overlooked due to a combination of not playing in recent years and poor current form in the current Caribbean Premier League.
West Indies are the only team to have won the T20 World Cup twice, in Sri Lanka in 2012 and in India in 2016.
West Indies will face Zimbabwe on October 19 and then Ireland on October 21, where the top two teams from Group B will join the Super 12, along with the top two teams from Group A.
