West Indies will try to wash away the stigma of not winning the host title

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 host. In the history of T20 World Cup, no host has been able to win the title till date. Darren Sammy, who made West Indies 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 to break this myth this time in the tournaments to be held in West Indies and America. Sri Lanka lost to West Indies in the final in Colombo in 2012. Chasing the target of 138 runs to win, the Sri Lankan team was out for 101 runs. After four years, 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 played with him are in this team. Sammy told the Caribbean media, “We know how to choose a winning team.” We have done this before and this time too we are very excited about the tournament. We started preparations right from the last World Cup in Australia.

The West Indies team was eliminated from the 2021 T20 World Cup in the UAE in the group stage itself. 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 Puran and he can prove to be a trump card in the middle order. He scored 499 runs for Lucknow Super Giants in IPL. The hosts 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 the 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 13th June and against Afghanistan on 18th June. The top two teams from each group will reach the Super Eight.