Hyderabad: West Indies have been always a mighty force in T20 cricket and this edition of the ICC T20 World Cup is no exception as they will enter the tournament as one of the strong contenders for the trophy. The two-time World Champions have a home advantage as the World Cup will be played in the USA and West Indies. The Caribbean side will be led by Rovman Powell while the batting unit will boast aggressive batters like Nicholas Pooran and Andre Russell.
Brandon King and Shai Hope can play to preserve their wicket while the set of all-rounders in the team might steer the scoreboard with aggression. The team will kick off their campaign on Sunday with the game against Papua New Guinea at Providence Stadium, Guyana. With the home advantage in their favour, West Indies look solid and they will look to clinch the silverware for the third time.
We take a look at the journey of the West Indies side through the various World Cup editions.
Two-time World Champions
2012 was the year when West Indies won their first T20 World Cup title. Their batting unit fared pretty well in the tournament and they scored two 190-plus totals in the competition. However, the team managed to post only 137/6 in the final against Sri Lanka but bowling unit dished out a brilliant performance. The duo of Sunil Narine and Daren Sammy bowled impressive spells taking three and two wickets respectively helping the team clinch the title. With the kind of batting they did in the tournament, West Indies introduced a new brand to play T20 cricket.
West Indies won the trophy in 2016 for the second time. Batting was their strong suit throughout the tournament and they chased the targets against most of the sides. In the final, England set the target of 156 and the Caribbean team needed 19 runs from the last over but Carlos Braithwaite made it an easy task by smacking four sixes in a row in the last over. With this incredible feat, he made his name immortal in the cricketing world and helped the side lift the silverware for the second time.
Exit from knockouts
2009 was the first edition where West Indies stepped up to their potential and concluded the season as the semi-finalists after facing a loss against Sri Lanka. In the semi-final, West Indies first restricted the opposition on 158/5 and were expected to chase the target. However, the batting unit crumbled under pressure and the team was wrapped up on a total of 101. Thus, a failure of the batting unit culminated in the team’s exit two steps away from the title.
The Caribbean side made it to the semi-final in 2014 but failed to convert their incredible run in lifting the silverware. They failed to keep up with the required run rate in a rain affected game in the knockout game and so the team lost the semis by 27 runs.
