West Indies T20I trio: T20 World Cup defence boosted as Chris Gayle, Andre Russell rejoin Kieron Pollard
54 matches, only 19 wins and 34 defeats – that’s defending champions West Indies’ record in T20Is since the end of the 2016 World Cup in India. Among Test-playing countries, West Indies’ win-loss ratio of 0.612 is better than only Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe in this period. It is worse than even Ireland. From the highs of Kolkata, they’ve seen a slip to No.10 in the ICC T20I rankings.
Yet, quite amusingly, if asked by all of the teams eyeing the T20 World Cup glory in UAE which is that one opposition that they would be the most wary of? It can be said with certainty and confidence the name of West Indies would be on top of their threat list.
For such is the intimidation factor that they carry about them, none of what has happened in last four years would matter when West Indies take the field and boast of all their first-choice picks. Often missing their big names due to alt commitments in leagues around the world, West Indies may have built a poor record next to their name in the last few years, but the three-time T20 World Cup champions are still the most dangerous prospect for opposition teams.
Their bowling is one of the weakest in the world, but they cover for it with the most explosive set of batsmen known in T20 cricket history. It’s a template that has earned them three titles. West Indies take the game’s traditional skills – strike-rotation, field maneuvering – out of equation and focus, with the almost never-ending batting unit, on muscling as many balls out of the park as possible.
And three of the best practitioners of this template and approach to T20 batting are Chris Gayle, Andre Russell and Kieron Pollard. The giants from the Caribbean shores, they are among the most dangerous batsmen available up the most dangerous T20I team’s sleeves.
West Indies T20I trio: return of Gayle and Russell to join Pollard is fantastic for Calypso Kings
Three of the most popular players in leagues around the world, the trio boasts of outstanding power-hitting abilities and eye-catching records to their names in that context. Their irregular presence may have had an affect on their international numbers, but their overall T20 CV gives a befitting account of them.
West Indies T20I trio: T20 World Cup defence boosted as Chris Gayle, Andre Russell rejoin Kieron Pollard
Of the 12 T20Is that Russell, Gayle and Pollard have played together – mainly at the T20 World Cups – West Indies have lost only one, recording a run-rate of over 9 runs per over with the bat. A small sample size alright, but it is enough to suggest how much better a T20I team West Indies are when they have this trio available and performing.
When West Indies have Russell and Gayle around to join their valiant skipper Pollard, they have an astonishing body of work in six-hitting available to them on the field – the trio has hit a remarkable 2,222 sixes collectively in T20 cricket.
West Indies T20I trio: Pollard can take influential aid from Gayle and Russell’s presence.
And it isn’t just six-hitting that this trio bolsters this West Indies T20I side with. Their invaluable presence brings a solid hierarchy to the batting line-up, deepens it and throws up options to play preferred match-ups. While Gayle has proven to be a successful No.3 even in what is deemed as the evening of his career, Russell’s inclusion gives Pollard the option to promote him up if they feel Nicholas Pooran isn’t yet a secure bet against any pace-oriented opposition attack. All this, while allowing the captain himself to retain his most preferred spot in the lower middle-order as an end-overs specialist.
The last time before yesterday that Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Chris Gayle and Andre Russell was in the same West Indies XI was in 2015, incidentally against South Africa too.#WIvSA pic.twitter.com/jc7ndgByQi
— CricXtasy (@CricXtasy) June 27, 2021
A cushion of Gayle, Russell and Pollard down the order also helps openers like Evin Lewis and Andre Fletcher retain their explosive ways. They can look to attack and maximise the powerplay restrictions without worrying what if they failed and its implications on their team’s fortunes.
The presence of this West Indies trio has one other understated advantage as well. They can bring their wealth of experience in field settings and designing the team’s bowling plans. While Pollard is one to take decisions, it certainly helps when he has Gayle and Russell, alongside a Dwayne Bravo who hasn’t played with the other three together since 2015, to feed off and refine his plans. In the 12 matches talked about above, West Indies have a respectable economy rate of 8.04 – which is not great, but certainly better than what West Indies often go for as a bowling unit at their worst.