ICC T20 World Cup 2022: Cricket West Indies Chief Selector Reveals Reason Behind Dropping Andre Russell From Squad
Published - 15 Sep 2022, 05:10 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:13 AM
Two-time T20 World Cup champions, West Indies announced their squad for the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup yesterday. The 15-member squad, however, sprung a few surprises as two of the biggest match winners in the T20 cricket – Andre Russell and Sunil Narine weren’t selected for the marquee tournament.
The Nicholas Pooran-led side included the likes of Shimron Hetmyer and Evin Lewis, but the Kolkata Knight Riders all-rounder duo wasn’t considered. Narine wasn’t part of the team in last year’s event either, but Russell did represent the two-time T20 World Cup winners. The swashbuckling all-rounder had a forgetful tournament in the UAE, and since then he hasn’t played for the West Indies again.
Andre Russell’s form isn’t convincing enough, reckons Haynes
It was expected that Russell might earn his place back but Cricket West Indies chief selector Desmond Haynes explained the reason behind the all-rounder’s absence. The former legendary opening batter said that the board was not convinced by the 34-year-old’s form in the shortest format of the game.
Haynes said, “We had a meeting with Andre Russell earlier in the year. We’re still not convinced yet. He’s not performing as well as we would like to see him in the competition. I think in the situation with Andre Russell, we’ve just decided to move on, and look for someone who’s in form and doing well in the T20 format.”
Sunil Narine did not give any notice regarding his availability
As far as Narine’s availability was concerned, Haynes said from all the conversations that skipper Pooran had with Narine, it looked like he wasn’t interested.
“I did not get any notice from Narine regarding his availability to play. There were conversations that the captain (Nicholas Pooran) was having with Narine, and from all reports, it seemed that he was not interested,” Haynes said.
