2016 ICC World T20: Chris Gayle returns to the squad; Darren Sammy to captain the side
The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) selectors announced on Friday that Darren Sammy will captain the West Indies team at the 2016 ICC World Twenty20.
The tournament will start from the 8th of March to the 3rd of April. The 15-man squad to be led by the 32-year-old Sammy, includes Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo and Sunil Narine. Gayle, Bravo and Narine will be playing for West Indies after a long time as their careers with their national team were offset by several controversies.
The squad retains 11 members from the team that won the championship in 2012.
Back in November 2015, Sunil Narine was banned from international cricket after his bowling action was considered illegal. The allegations came during West Indies’ third ODI match against Sri Lanka earlier in the same month. Narine is making a return to the West Indies team.
Chris Gayle’s relationship with the West Indies Cricket Board has been a rough one as he has at several occasions pulled out of the team owing to financial problems. Monetary issues in the West Indies cricket team has been a major concern for some time now with many other players voicing protests about the lack of handsome payment from the board. Gayle has been controversial in more ways than one but has now returned to play for West Indies.
Dwayne Bravo was the spokesperson for the team that was on a strike when touring India and as a result the tour was cancelled mid-way and eventually Bravo was excluded from the 2015 World Cup squad.
The team will be leaving for Kolkata on March 7th after camping in the United Arab Emirates from February 22nd to March 6th. West Indies also holds the first position in the ICC Twenty20 team rankings.
West Indies will be playing against England, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and one of the qualifiers from the first round. They are part of Group 1 of the Super 10 stage.
The squad: Darren Sammy (capt), Samuel Badree, Sulieman Benn, Darren Bravo, Dwayne Bravo, Andre Fletcher, Chris Gayle, Jason Holder, Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard, Denesh Ramdin, Andre Russell, Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons, Jerome Taylor.