T20 World Cup 2022: West Indies squad announced - Key players who can surprise opponents
West Indies announced their 15-member squad for ICC T20 World Cup 2022 to be held in Australia from 16th October. There have been many surprise calls taken by the cricket board
Image credit: pia.images.co.uk West Indies Huddle“We have selected a mixture of youth and experience to represent the West Indies,” said lead selector Desmond Haynes.
While the legendary and most expected big names in the form of Andre Russell, Fabian Allen and Sunil Narine have been overlooked, Evin Lewis and Johnson Charles have been recalled for the World Cup. Even uncapped players like Yannic Cariah and Raymon Reifer have made it to the 15-member squad.
However, the key players from West Indies who are likely to take other teams by surprise with their cricketing skills are:
Kyle Mayers
He is a left-handed batter who can bowl medium pace in times of need. He debuted in November 2020 and has played 16 T20Is for West Indies. As a batter, he has saved many games for the team by giving a solid start.
He carries a healthy strike rate of 134.28 and averages 23.50 in T20Is. He has demonstrated his power-hitting against pacers in CPL and thus can be a crucial batter for West Indies in Australia, where most of the team plays with pacers instead of spin.
Obed McCoy
The left-arm pacer looks to be tailor-made for the shortest format of the game. He becomes a problematic bowler to bat against with many variations available, especially in the death overs.
He played impressively well in IPL 2022 for Rajasthan Royals and has the best figure of 6/17 in T20 internationals. With a phenomenal strike rate of 13.3, he can be a surprising yet deadly element of the West Indies on Australian pitches.
Johnson Charles
Johnson Charles is one of the leading run-scorers in the Caribbean Premier League 2022 so far and is a proven performer in the T20 format. Having made 34 international appearances, he carries a strike rate of 121.68.
The muscular opener with a cunning ability to swat the ball on either side of the wicket has quite an experience from the West Indies World Cup squad in 2012 and 2016. He has shown his brilliance of power-hitting on multiple occasions but failed in cracking the consistency code.
He can potentially fulfil the role of a backup wicketkeeper in the squad. But with skipper Nicholas Pooran already in that role, his inclusion in the playing XI is subject to whether the team needs him as an opener.
As the team looks to win an unprecedented third World Cup title, they must first qualify for the Super 12 stage. They will have their first clash with Scotland on 17th October, followed by Zimbabwe and Ireland in Group B.
Entire squad: Nicholas Pooran (Captain), Rovman Powell (Vice-captain), Sheldon Cottrell, Yannic Cariah, Johnson Charles, Kyle Mayers, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph, Evin Lewis, Obed McCoy, Raymon Reifer, Odean Smith, Brandon King