Andre Russell and Sunil Narine not playing: The star West Indian all-rounders have been dropped from the T20 World Cup squad.
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Andre Russell and Sunil Narine – two world-class all-rounders especially in the T20 format, have not been included in the 15-member West Indies squad which will tour Australia to partake in the imminent T22 World Cup 2022.
With Southpaw batter Nicholas Pooran set to lead the side, there have been a few other surprise selections as well, along with the exclusions of the aforementioned big names in the world of T20 Cricket.
Uncapped players in 30-year-old wrist spinner Yannic Carriah, and left-arm seam-bowling allrounder Raymon Riefer make it to the 15-member World Cup squad, over the regulars in leg-spinner Hayden Walsh and Romario Shephard.
At the top of the order, wicket-keeper Johnson Charles, on the back of his decent enough numbers in CPL 2022 so far, marks his return back to the side, having last played a T20I in December 2016. Also, Evin Lewis, who has been failing to meet the fitness standards in the past few months, has been given the affirmative nod. He will join the likes of Brandon King and Kyle Mayers, as the other options in the top-order.
With room for just one left-arm spinner in the squad, as per Cricket West Indies chief selector Desmond Haynes, Akeal Hosein has been preferred over Fabien Allen.
ICYMI: CWI has announced the 15-man squad for the Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia! #MenInMaroon #T20WorldCup
More details⬇️ https://t.co/t6ils9Xdox pic.twitter.com/GKxgCHZcvG
— Windies Cricket (@windiescricket) September 14, 2022
Why are Andre Russell and Sunil Narine not playing
Having managed to score mere 34 runs across 4 innings at an average of mere 8.50 in CPL 2022 for far, Andre Russell has been dropped from the 15-member squad, with past reputation being no ground for selection, as per Haynes.
“We had a meeting with Andre Russell earlier in the year,” Haynes said. “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 just move on, and look for someone who’s in form, and doing well in the T20 format,” exclaimed Haynes.
As for Narine, who has not yet been able to get his issues resolved with the West Indies Cricket Board, the 34-year-old has, alike the 2021 T20 World Cup been left out of the squad yet again.
“Yes, again, the captain [Nicholas Pooran] told me he’s reached out to Narine, but I’m not too sure he wants to play,” Haynes remarked when queried about Narine.
