The West Indies have announced their squad for the upcoming five-match series against India and it marks the return of experienced wicketkeeper-batter Shai Hope and tearaway pacer Oshane Thomas.
Hope, who leads the team in the 50-overs format is making his return to the T20I squad after a gap of almost 17 months. Even Thomas hasn't represented the Windies in a long time. He last played a T20I for the Men in Maroon in December 2021 and would look to impress on his return if he gets an opportunity during the series. The 26-year-old pacer has bagged 21 wickets in 20 matches, including a five-wicket haul. He has leaked runs at an economy rate of 9.40 - a stat that certainly needs to improve for him to keep getting opportunities for the team from the Caribbean in the shortest format.
Hope has fairly decent numbers in T20 cricket. He has played 19 T20Is thus far and aggregated 304 runs at a decent strike rate of 121.11, including two half-centuries, and is averaging 17.88. The upcoming bilateral contest against the Men in Blue will present an excellent opportunity for Hope to score some crucial and match-winning knocks for the hosts and cement his place in the T20I outfit.
West Indies chief selector Desmond Haynes mentioned that the team management will not shy away from trying different things in order to get their combination spot on for the ICC men's T20 World Cup 2024 which they will co-host alongside the United States.
"The squad is selected with the next ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in mind," said Desmond Haynes.
"We are looking at various plans as we try to find the right combinations. As we prepare; we are looking to build a unit which we believe can do the job when we host the global event in just under a year.
"We have some match-winners in our line-up and we will look to have the right kind of preparation, starting here in Trinidad on Thursday."
The first of the five-match series will be played on August 3 at the Brian Lara Academy in Trinidad. The team will be led by allrounder Rovman Powell.
West Indies T20I squad:
Rovman Powell (c), Kyle Mayers (vc), Johnson Charles, Roston Chase, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Shai Hope, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph, Brandon King, Obed McCoy, Nicholas Pooran, Romario Shepherd, Odean Smith, Oshane Thomas.
