Brathwaite named West Indies captain for India T20Is

St. Lucia, Aug 9 (IANS) Hard-hitting all-rounder Carlos Brathwaite was on Tuesday appointed the new West Indies captain for the two Twenty20 International matches against India later this month scheduled to be held in Florida.

Reigning World T20 champions the West Indies will face India in a two match T20 series at the Central Broward Regional Park, Fort Lauderdale, on August 27 and 28.

World T20 wining captain Darren Sammy had recently posted a video on his Facebook page saying the chairman of selectors had called him about the exclusion from the squad, reports ESPNcricinfo.

"With regards to Sammy's omission from the squad, the Chairman of selectors Courtney Browne noted that the named-squad was selected purely on players' performances" the West Indies Cricket Board said in a release on Monday.

Sammy hardly made an impact during the World T20 in India; he faced 13 balls in his three innings, scoring eight runs, and bowled three overs, taking one wicket.

"The selection panel has expressed its thanks to former captain Darren Sammy for his leadership of that format of the game for the two World Championship titles in 2012 and earlier this year," the release said.

Brathwaite had struck four consecutive sixes to win the West Indies their second World T20 final in April this year, and has played seven One-Days, the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) and a Test against India in Antigua since then.

Veterans Sunil Narine and Kieron Pollard, who had both pulled out of the World T20 squad for different reasons, returned to the T20 squad.

While Pollard had withdrawn because of "lack of sufficient progress in his rehabilitative work," Narine's reason was "insufficient progress in the rehabilitative work on his bowling action".

They had both played in the tri-series against South Africa and Australia in the West Indies in June. Narine had finished as the second-highest wicket-taker in the series and Pollard scored 205 runs from seven matches at an average of 41.

Denesh Ramdin, Sulieman Benn, Ashley Nurse and Jerome Taylor were however left out of the T20 squad.

The West Indies T20 squad: Andre Fletcher, Andre Russell, Carlos Brathwaite (captain), Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Evin Lewis, Jason Holder, Johnson Charles, Kieron Pollard, Lendl Simmons, Marlon Samuels, Samuel Badree, Sunil Narine.

--IANS

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