It is hard for a team to have all its players in top form, but West Indian skipper Chris Gayle is lucky to have a side that is ready to beat any side in the world; a feat that West Indies have managed to accomplish during the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean.
Not even the mighty Australians have so much depth in their bowling and batting. Every bowler can bat; every batsman can turn his arm over while all 11 members of the side are the safest fielders in the game. The wicket keeper is no mug with the bat either, and if all goes well, the West Indians might be ready to have a shy at the trophy.
There are more pros than cons in the West Indian squad playing in this mega event. The opening pair of Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Chris Gayle has so far proved to be both destructive and selective in their shot making. They were the main reasons why the Calypso Kings were able to defeat England in the rain hit match. Secondly, it was their calculated hitting that saw Indian fielders running haywire on Sunday. Gayle was unlucky to have missed his century, which would have been his second in the format of the game. Although his 98 was enough to ensure that, the Indians would not be able to outscore the hosts.
The two veterans are followed in the batting order by the experienced duo of Ramnaresh Sarwan and Wavell Hinds. The two experienced campaigners however, have been unused in the middle order because of Gayle’s rightful dependency on all-rounders Darren Sammy and Kieron Pollard. The duo helped the hosts defeat the Irish team in the opening match through their batting. Both all-rounders have been sent up in the order on numerous occasions to accelerate the scoring. They can hit the ball hard and can defend the wicket if the need arises. No other team in the competition has such gifted all-rounder, and this goes heavily in favor of the West Indian team.
As for the fast bowling department, the hosts have been a good bowling unit, despite Ravi Rampaul’s thrashing at the hands of Eoin Morgan and Luke Wright. They have brought in the experienced Jerome Taylor for the expensive medium pace of Rampaul, who has joined hands with Darren Sammy, Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard, and Kemar Roach to put the brakes on even the best batting line-ups of the tournament. Their performance against India was one of the best, considering the never-say-die attitude of the former champions and their batting resources.
Then, there is the lanky left-arm spinner Suleiman Benn, who uses his height and knowledge of the local grounds to restrict even the finest of batsmen. Skipper Gayle works with him in tandem, and the two have been the silent stars of the West Indian campaign so far. Although West Indies will have to beat the red-hot Australia to reach the last four of the competition, Australia’s recent fall out against quality bowling in their matches against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, can weigh on their mind when they meet the hosts on May 11.
The West Indians may not have won any major tournament since the 2004 Champions Trophy in England, yet Chris Gayle believes his side has the right ingredients to end the six-year drought by winning the Twenty20 World Cup. From the look of things, one is likely to take Gayle’s word for it.
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