T20 WC: Expecting something special from the WI, says Daren Sammy

DUBAI: Former West Indies captain Daren Sammy feels that one can expect "something special" from the Nicholas Pooran-led side in the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia. West Indies, the two-time T20 World Cup winners, have to go through the first round of the tournament in order to make it to the Super 12 stage.

"I just spoke to Nicholas Pooran and he reckons the guys are shaping up well. I have a really good feeling about this squad because we have so much talent. The batters are there as always. Kyle Mayers is such a talent and times the ball brilliantly and we know Nicholas is a match-winner.

"The good thing this time round is we have bowlers who can take wickets. We didn't know where our wickets would come from last time but this time we do. You can rely on Akeal Hosein, he's in the top 10 in the world and Odean Smith keeps improving, so it's about fine-tuning and getting the right combinations.

"I would never write off the West Indies and I have a funny feeling that something special is going to happen in Australia," wrote Sammy in his column for the International Cricket Council (ICC) ahead of West Indies' first match against Scotland on October 17 in Hobart.

In the run-up to the T20 World Cup, West Indies have been far away from their dominating self in the shortest format of the game. They suffered losses in home series to India and New Zealand, before losing 2-0 to Australia.

Moreover, in the warm-up match, they somehow managed to get the better of the UAE by 17 runs, before their warm-up match against the Netherlands was abandoned due to rain. Sammy, the captain of West Indies T20 World Cup wins in 2012 and 2016, recalled how he and former all-rounder Dwayne Bravo talked about creating a legacy for the side in T20Is.

"After the opening game of the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007, we thought 'wow, this game is tailor-made for us West Indians'. Dwayne Bravo and I would talk about creating a legacy. We had the opportunity to do that in the T20 format and we grabbed that with both hands.

"Clive Lloyd, Sir Viv and the greats started it by winning two World Cups in the 70s, and the teams of the 80s and 90s set the standard in the Test arena. We made T20 our own for a decade and our players went on to become some of the greatest and most sought-after in the world."

Sammy signed off by rueing that separating the T20I side after their dramatic 2016 triumph resulted in the West Indies losing a chance to give exposure to young cricketers. "It's the last memory I have in a West Indies shirt, that was my last game, and it's a good one to remember. We created history that day, it was amazing.

"The sad thing is that after 2016 that team was dismantled. They brought the guys back in 2021 but they were way past their best. We had a chance to mix the young players in with the experienced guys and we lost a massive opportunity to become stronger."