West Indies bring power and depth to the T20 World Cup

vs Scotland in Kolkata, February 7
vs England in Mumbai, February 11
vs Nepal in Mumbai, February 15
vs Italy in Kolkata, February 19

Six-hitting is how West Indies won their last ICC title, in 2016, and the squad they have picked for the T20 World Cup in 2026 contains plenty of power-packed players. Daren Sammy, who lifted the trophy then, is head coach now and believes "something special is about to happen."

It might even be necessary given that of all 20 teams, West Indies have the second-lowest win-loss ratio - 0.52 - on the back of winning 14 out of 43 matches since the end of the previous T20 World Cup in 2024. A mitigating factor is that they tend to face stronger opposition than the likes of Nepal (3.2) or Canada (2.4), and some of their Test-playing peers, like South Africa who were almost champions in 2024, are just barely better off (0.6).

Early wickets are unlikely to decide West Indies' matches. Not when Romario Shepherd could come in and live up to a T20 balls-per-boundary ratio of 4.64. They can put out a line-up with batting all the down to 11. Their middle-order (Nos. 4 to 7) has hit 150 sixes over the last seven months - only one team has bettered that - and eight fifty-plus scores - only three teams have bettered that.

To shore up the top, there were reports suggesting CWI had reached out to Nicholas Pooran to reverse his retirement. When that didn't happen, they brought Shimron Hetmyer in and his returns against South Africa, from the No. 3 position, were rather promising: 171 runs from three innings at a strike rate of 178.12.

West Indies lost 2-1 to South Africa with the same squad they picked for the T20 World Cup. Prior to that, they lost to Afghanistan 2-1 and New Zealand 3-1.

Jason Holder was part of the squad that won the 2016 T20 World Cup, but didn't get to play. He has since expanded his range of skills and is now prepared to take on the Dwayne Bravo role, all the way down to bowling in the death and stifling right-hand batters with the angle from around the wicket.

Shamar Joseph will carry the new-ball threat though whether it will be the same as before remains to be seen. The fast bowler is coming back to the spotlight after a long period on the sidelines. Until the Afghanistan series in mid-January, he hadn't played any cricket for four months.

Gudakesh Motie also missed some game time leading into the World Cup because he had to iron out some technical issues with his bowling action. However, as a left-armer capable of delivering both orthodox and wristspin, he could be vital for the team in subcontinent conditions.

Johnson Charles is 37 now. Though he is largely an opening batter, he's managed only three fifty-plus scores in his last 40 innings.

Best XI

1 Shai Hope (capt, wk), 2 Brandon King/Johnson Charles, 3 Shimron Hetmyer, 4 Roston Chase, 5 Rovman Powell, 6 Sherfane Rutherford, 7 Romario Shepherd, 8 Jason Holder, 9 Akeal Hosein, 10 Gudakesh Motie/Matthew Forde, 11 Shamar Joseph/Jayden Seales