“We have disappointed our fans and ourselves. It’s definitely hurting,“ said a dejected Nicholas Pooran after West Indies, the two-time T20 World Cup champions, were embarrassingly knocked out in the preliminary qualifying round of the T20 World Cup 2022, failing to qualify for the Super 12 round.
West Indies had a dismal T20 World Cup 2021 as well in the UAE, where they lost 4 matches and won only 1 – against Bangladesh – last year. Some of the legends of the game who were part of last year’s team – Gayle, Bravo, Pollard, Rampaul – and were fading away weren’t part of this tournament, but still the young guns couldn’t do any better.
Here are the 3 key reasons why West Indies have been eliminated from the T20 World Cup 2022:
Carrying out-of-form players
It was Gayle and Lendl Simmons last year; it was Evin Lewis and Shamarh Brooks this year – West Indies have suffered two years in a row because of having out-of-form players in the XI, many even questioned their places in the side, despite their status as prominent T20 batters in the circuit.
Evin Lewis hadn’t played a single T20I this year but was included in the squad and also played in all three matches scoring only 42 runs; Brooks, who had averaged 25 with a poor strike rate of 100 in T20Is before the start of the tournament, registered scores of 4 and 0.
Not selecting Andre Russell and Shimron Hetmyer
Andre Russell was retained for 15 crores by KKR, and Shimron Hetmyer was bought for 8.5 crores by RR because both the IPL franchises know the value these two players bring in the T20 side, and they vindicated it with brilliant performances in the IPL 2022.
However, the West Indies selectors and board continued their tussle with the two players and dropped them for surprising reasons: other “in-form” players were preferred over Russell, while Hetmyer was dropped from the squad for missing a rescheduled flight despite two weeks away from West Indies’ first match in the tournament. Just an extension of the previous point, West Indies took some out-of-form and inexperienced players to Australia instead of two of the best T20 players they have.
Poor performances by the batsmen
Despite their squad’s weaknesses, West Indies were still touted to at least reach the Super 12 round because of the strengths in their squad. However, the players who were expected to come good and lead by example failed to deliver on the big occasions.
Starting with skipper Nicholas Pooran himself, the left-hander managed only 25 runs in 3 innings, only better than Brooks and bowlers Joseph and McCoy. Lewis scored 42, Holder also 42, and Rovman Powell and opener Kyle Mayers scored merely 39 and 34 runs, respectively. The third-most runs by a West Indian batter in 3 innings is 25, by Odean Smith. With such atrocious batting performances game after game, West Indies kept digging a hole for themselves.
