Veteran West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo, in a recent press report, posited the view that Windies’ current squad of T-20 players are far better than the past T-20 World Cup-winning teams.
“In the last series in Sri Lanka, we had a team meeting, and coach Phil [Simmons] put the team down, the list, and he put it down in batting order, and he had my name down at No. 9,” said Bravo in the report.
Bravo noted also that he had never batted at number 9 in any T-20 team, but with the current Windies team, he was left with no choice but to settle for that position.
“I’m just in awe of our batting line-up, and I said to the guys, I said listen, I think this team is actually better than our World-Cup-winning team, and that is no joke because, at the end of the day, you have batting all the way down to number ten,” stated Bravo.
He also argued that Sunil Narine, now an opening batsman, would be pushed down the batting order to bat at number ten or eleven in the current Windies current set-up.
He underscored his point by reflecting on the current team accordingly:
“So just imagine a full-strength West Indies team; everyone is on deck. As a bowler, you get Evin Lewis out, [Shimron] Hetmyer comes in. You get Hetmyer out, [Nicholas] Pooran comes in, you get Lendl Simmons out, [Andre] Russell comes in, you get Russell out, [Kieron] Pollard comes in, you get Pollard out, Rovman Powell comes in, and it keeps going, going, and then you reach the champion DJ Bravo.”
With the next T-20 World Cup scheduled to take place from October 18 to November 15, 2020, one has to wait to prove whether there is any truth to Bravo’s theory.
The fact is the Darren Sammy squad of the 2010 and 2016 editions had some of the most explosive batsmen, and the bowling though erratic was not pansylike.
Under Sammy, there were the likes of Chris Gayle, Marlon Samuels, Kieron Pollard, and Dwayne Smith – all explosive batsmen who can make the willow talk.
That said, one cannot help but agree with Bravo that on paper the current set-up looks excellent with many young players who are hungry for success and fame.
And although the COVID-19 pandemic has stalled their preparations, one can assume that they are going through the routine, and no doubt will be ready once called upon to play.
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