St. John’s, Antigua and Barbuda: West Indies that commenced their campaign against Pakistan at Trent Bridge has won two of the past three editions of the World T20.
With the increasing similarity in the way teams approach the two formats of the white-ball game, there seems no reason why the West Indies cannot again be a force in 50-over cricket as well.
Yet they failed to qualify for the 2017 Champions Trophy ODI tournament in England and only just scraped into this World Cup through the qualifiers.
It is all a far cry from the West Indies’ glory days, when a powerful squad under the captaincy of Clive Lloyd won the first two men’s World Cups, in 1975 and 1979, and lost in 1983 final to India.
A long-running player dispute appears to have been put behind them with the defeat of controversial Cricket West Indies president Dave Cameron in a recent election.
With veteran opener Chris Gayle firmly back in the one-day fold, they can do real damage.
The 39-year-old left-hander has signaled that he remains a potent force ahead of what could be his last major global tournament with some typically blistering innings, including 162 off just 97 balls in Grenada during a drawn series at home to World Cup favorites England earlier this year.
Yet there is more to the West Indies’ batting than the self-styled “Universe Boss”, with Evin Lewis, Shimron Hetmyer and Shai Hope all capable of telling contributions in a line-up also boasting dangerous all-rounder Andre Russell.
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