T20 World Cup 2021, West Indies cricket team: Strengths & Weaknesses of Windies' WC squad

The T20 World Cup 2021 kicked off last Sunday with the group stages where the teams are vying for a place in the Super 12. Apart from the group stage matches, the teams who got direct entry in Group 12 played two warm-up matches each before getting into business in the coming weekend. Among these teams is the West Indies. The Windies are not only the defending champions but are also the only team to have won the T20 title twice. 

As the Caribbean boys look forward to winning their record third ICC T20 World Cup crown, let's do a SWOT analysis of the title-holders before they kickstart their campaign.

ICC T20 World Cup 2021: Strengths & weaknesses of the West Indies cricket team

Batting is the main strength of the West Indies cricket team in this edition of the ICC T20 World Cup as they have the likes of Chris Gayle, Evin Lewis, Lendl Simmons in the top-order. Their strong middle-order comprises of the likes of skipper Kieron Pollard and the hard-hitting Andre Russell while Dwayne Bravo can do some damage in the lower-order. The Windies team is blessed with many exceptional power-hitters and it gives them the confidence of setting and chase targets.

The bowling is what will hurt the Windies and it could turn out to be their weakness as only two bowlers can succeed in making the ball talk without much difficulties on Gulf pitches. One is of course Dwayne Bravo with his elegant medium-pace and slower ones and the other bowler is Ravi Rampaul. However, Rampaul is making his comeback to the West Indies team for the first time since 2015 and so it remains to be seen how long it would take him to rediscover his rhythm. The Caribbean bowlers were successful in their home conditions but, if they want to rewrite history and win their third T20 WC title, then the bowling unit must work in tandem and trouble the opposition batsmen at regular intervals.

Here's the West Indies squad for the T20 World Cup 2021

Kieron Pollard (c), Nicholas Pooran (vc), Akeal Hosein, Dwayne Bravo, Roston Chase, Andre Fletcher, Chris Gayle, Shimron Hetmyer, Evin Lewis, Obed McCoy, Lendl Simmons, Ravi Rampaul, Andre Russell, Oshane Thomas, Hayden Walsh jr.

Reserves: Darren Bravo, Sheldon Cottrell, Jason Holder, Gudakesh Motie

(Image: @windiescricket/Twitter)