Hope to lead West Indies in T20 World Cup; Sampson, Joseph included

St John’s (Antigua and Barbuda), Jan 26 (PTI) Shai Hope will lead two-time title winners West Indies in next month’s T20 World Cup with the Caribbean squad also featuring rookie batter Quentin Sampson and pacer Shamar Joseph.

Former skipper Jason Holder, Romario Shepherd and Rovman Powell also returned to the West Indies’ side after missing their three-match series against Afghanistan — which they lost 1-2 — due to T20 commitments.

Hope did not feature in the series against Afghanistan as he was busy playing in the recently concluded SA20.

As many as 11 players from the last T20 World Cup, which was held in the Americas, were retained in the squad for the competition that features 20 teams and starts on February 7.

West Indies have won the T20 World

Cup twice, in 2012 and 2016, under the captaincy of Daren Sammy, who is now their head coach.

The Caribbean side are placed in Group C along with former champions England, debutant Italy and Nepal, and Scotland, who have replaced Bangladesh after their refusal to travel to India for the tournament.

West Indies will take on South Africa in an away three-match T20I series to bolster their preparations for the T20 World Cup from January 27-31.

Their opening match in the T20 World Cup will be against Scotland in Kolkata on February 7.

West Indies squad: Shai Hope (c & wk), Johnson Charles (wk), Roston Chase, Matthew Forde, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Akeal Hossein, Shamar Joseph, Brandon King, Gudakesh Motie, Rovman Powell, Sherfane Rutherford, Quentin Sampson, Jayden Seales, Romario Shepherd. PTI DDV PDS PDS