Jason Holder always in West Indies T20 plans: Phil Simmons

West Indies coach Phil Simmons has stated that Jason Holder is always in consideration for the country’s T20 side. His clarification came after Test captain Holder was left out of the West Indies T20 squad for the upcoming tour of New Zealand.

Also Read: West Indies announce squad for New Zealand tour

Speaking to the media via Zoom, former player turned coach Phil Simmons noted that a decision was made by the selection panel to leave out Jason Holder from the West Indies T20 team due to the closeness of those matches to the Test matches, as well as due to his heavy workload in the build up to the tour.

The coach noted, “Let me just clear it up here. This is an odd tour here. The T20 series finishes a day or two days before the first Test match and [Holder] being captain of the Test team, a decision was taken by us as a selection panel that Jason will not be considered for that part. Seeing that he is coming from IPL, he will have one chance to play in the four-day game before the Test match.

“But Jason Holder is always in consideration for T20s. He had two good years at the CPL and now he is having a good tournament at the IPL.”

Jason Holder last played for the West Indies in the shortest format of the game in December 2019 in India. Recently, however, since the resumption of cricket following an enforced break due to the coronavirus pandemic, he has put in a few notable T20 performances. In the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), Holder was the Barbados Tridents’ third-highest scorer with 192 runs in 10 matches with a best score of 69. He also made an impact with the ball claiming 10 wickets at an economy of 6.63 runs per over.

In the on-going IPL too, Jason Holder has been registering impressive numbers for his franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad. Holder has picked up 13 wickets from just six games at an economy of 7.62. And with the bat, he has played a couple of crucial knocks, including a timely cameo of 24 Not Out that helped the Sunrisers get over the line against the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Eliminator on Friday.

Also Read: IPL 2020: Virat Kohli rues poor Royal Challengers Bangalore batting

West Indies begin their tour of New Zealand on November 27 with three T20 games. These will be followed by a two-match Test series for which Jason Holder will lead the team.