Andre Russell Out Of England T20Is, Jason Holder To Lead

Ahead of the challenging three-match T20I series against England, Windies have received a big injury setback. They will be without their star allrounder Andre Russell for the tough series. Russell was ruled out of the series after being considered not fit enough for the games following an assessment by the medical team. The allrounder had recently returned to the ODI team for the fourth and fifth game against England. However, he could not play in either of the games.

Missing the T20I series would be a big blow for Russell as it was his final chance to impress the selectors ahead of the World Cup. The allrounder has fallen down the pecking order in the national team in recent times. He has been plying his trade in various T20 Leagues and last played for Windies in a T20I against Bangladesh in August 2018. Since 2015, Russell has played just one ODI, against Bangladesh in Guyana last year.

Andre Russell is likely to return to action during the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League where he will ply his trade for Kolkata Knight Riders.

“A CWI medical panel outlined that Andre Russell has been withdrawn from the squad, due to an adverse reaction he had to a medical procedure done in Dubai before he flew to the Caribbean,” Cricket West Indies said in a statement.

The Caribbean outfit, meanwhile, has retained the same squad barring Russell that played the ODIs. The only notable change was the appointment of Jason Holder as skipper instead of Carlos Brathwaite. The decision comes on the back of some impressive outings in Tests and ODIs under Holder’s captaincy in recent months. Holder led the Windies to a remarkable 2-1 over England in Tests before guiding them to a 2-2 draw in ODIs.

“After discussion with the coach surrounding preparation for the World Cup, it was proposed that we retain the ODI squad to play the T20 matches against England,”  chairman of selectors Courtney Browne said. “After deliberations with captain, coach and the panel, we all are of the opinion that it would aid in the team’s World Cup preparations.”

Windies, meanwhile, will be looking to continue their impressive show against England in the upcoming T20Is. In the final ODI, Windies had thrashed the visitors by seven wickets after bowling them out for just 113.

Windies squad for three T20Is:

Chris Gayle, John Campbell, Shai Hope, Shimron Hetmyer, Darren Bravo, Nicholas Pooran, Fabian Allen, Carlos Brathwaite, Jason Holder(c), Ashley Nurse, Oshane Thomas, Devendra Bishoo, Sheldon Cottrell