Rovman Powell to lead West Indies squad for T20 WC; Shamar Joseph, Andre Russell included

Saint John's [Antigua and Barbuda], May 3 (ANI): Two-time World champions West Indies on Friday announced their 15-player squad for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2024, which will be co-hosted in the Caribbean and the USA.
Batter Rovman Powell will be leading the side in the global event. Notably, pace sensation Shamar Joseph, who impressed in his Test debut series against Australia earlier this year, is now poised to mark his T20I debut after being picked in the T20 World Cup squad.
Meanwhile, the squad missed the name of Kyle Mayers, who was part of the series against Australia.
Their T20I team consists of heavy hitters like Andre Russell, Shimron Hetmyer, Nicholas Pooran, Rovman Powell and Romario Shepherd who can destroy any bowling line-up on their day.
Part of Group C alongside Afghanistan, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Uganda, the two-time Champions will kick off their campaign on June 2 against Papua New Guinea in Guyana.
West Indies is the tenth team to announce their team for the World Cup. India, New Zealand, England, Australia, and South Africa are among the major teams that have announced their squads for the competition.
Akeal Hossain and Gudakesh Motie form the spin-bowling department, while the pace battery will be led by vice-captain Joseph with the support of Joseph.
West Indies won the T20 World Cup twice, in 2012 and 2016. Before England won their second T20 World Cup in 2022, they were the first side to win the coveted trophy twice. The Windies, however, were not included in the main event of the previous Australian 20-over tournament. They were eliminated from the competition on the main stage and were unable to advance to the Super 12 round.
"We had a very long discussion with the situation of the batting line-up. I want to state very clearly that our focus has always been (on) roles - roles that we want people to play. The situation of someone like Shamar Joseph, you really can't question someone like him, we saw him in Australia. He ticked the boxes for us," Director of West Indies Cricket Desmond Haynes spoke about the big selection calls as quoted by ICC.
"It was some very close decisions, regarding the selection of Kyle Mayers and Shimron Hetmyer - but we looked at who we wanted the extra batter batting down the order," he added.
The ICC Men's T20 World Cup will be played from June 1-29 with co-hosts USA taking on Canada in the opening fixture at Grand Prairie Stadium in Texas. A total of 55 matches will be played by 20 teams across 9 venues, culminating in the final on June 29 in Barbados.
Squad: Rovman Powell (c), Alzarri Joseph, Johnson Charles, Roston Chase, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Shai Hope, Akeal Hossain, Shamar Joseph, Brandon King, Gudakesh Motie, Nicholas Pooran, Andre Russell, Sherfane Rutherford, Romario Shepherd. (ANI)