West Indies were knocked out of the ICC World T20 2021 after suffering a 20-run loss to Sri Lanka and it was a miserable campaign for the two-time champions.
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There will be a new name on the ICC World T20 trophy in 2021. The West Indies, the two-time and defending champions, were dumped out of the race for the semi-final after a 20-run loss to Sri Lanka. This was the third loss for the West Indies in four games and it was a sad end to some of their veterans. The likes of Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard and Chris Gayle, who have played over 450 Twenty20 matches, will now end their careers without another potential trophy.
Dwayne Bravo, who has won 16 Twenty20 titles, confirmed that he will retire from international cricket after the match against Australia. Gayle, who has had an underwhelming performance so far, might potentially play his last game for the West Indies. But, there have been plenty of obituaries written on Gayle’s performance. Each and every time, he has bounced back in style.
With the likes of Pollard, Jason Holder and Andre Russell all in their 30s, it is now time for the West Indies to rebuild. What were the major causes for West Indies’ elimination from the tournament? Here are some of the key factors.
The Universe Boss was expected to set the stage on fire in potentially his last ICC World T20. He had exited the IPL bio-bubble in order to be fresh for the ICC World T20. However, at the age of 42, his reflexes clearly slowed in all four games that he played in. In the game against England, he showed some glimpses of his form when he hit three fours. However, his knock was cut short at 13. In the subsequent games against South Africa, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, Gayle managed scores of 12, 4, and 1. With just 30 runs from four games at an average of 7.5 and a strike rate of 75, Gayle’s struggles did not help the West Indies at all.
None of the West Indies players averaged in excess of 30 before the game against Sri Lanka. When Shimron Hetmyer hit an unbeaten 81, that helped his average go past 30. This was the major problem for the West Indies in the whole tournament. Not one batsmen got the big score when it mattered. In the whole tournament, before Hetmyer’s fifty, Evin Lewis was the only one who had gone past the half-century mark when he hit 56 against South Africa. But, it was the woeful batting of the West Indies that made their prospects of repeating the feats of 2012 and 2016 hard.
Kieron Pollard, Andre Russell and Dwayne Bravo are all legends in Twenty20 cricket and in the IPL. Pollard and Russell have played many death-defying knocks in the IPL. Their aggression and clean-hitting was simply a treat to watch. In the ICC World T20, the entire lower-middle order failed. Pollard averaged 15 with a strike-rate of 86. Russell averaged a woeful 1.75 with two ducks in four games. Bravo, on the other hand, averaged just 5.3. These averages prompted Pollard to state that they never expected this in the post-match presentation. “The guys have been hurting in the dressing room, especially the batters. We didn’t see this coming, but it has happened.”
In the entire tournament, the West Indies bowlers have picked only 12 wickets in four games. This means an average of only three wickets per match. The batting was already a problem, but in the case of the bowling, it has been woeful. The best economy rate was 6.92 and that was by Akeal Hosein. But, in the previous title campaigns of 2012 and 2016, they lacked a bowler who held things up in the powerplay. Someone like Samuel Badree. In this edition, there has been no one who could build the pressure. Ravi Rampaul, who returned to the side after a big gap, picked up only two wickets in four games at an average of 49 and an economy rate of 7.53. When bowling lacked penetration, this campaign was bound to be a disaster.
Perhaps, the ages of the West Indies players did catch up to them in a big way. Pollard is 34, Gayle is 42, Bravo is 38, Rampaul is 37, Lendl Simmons is 36 while Jason Holder has touched 30. With six out of the 11 in the high 30s, with one over 40 and one just touching 30, West Indies were a ‘Dad’s Army’ of players in the twilight of their careers. But, age is just a hyped factor as demonstrated by Chennai Super Kings in the IPL. It is actually not proven that the older the player, the lesser chances he has for success. But, in the ICC World T20, the West Indies players probably could not repeat the feats of 2012 and 2016 with the passage of time. It is this factor that played a minuscule role, but it did play a part.
