West Indies T20 World Cup campaign has suffered a huge blow ahead of the marques event, with star all-rounder Fabian Allen getting ruled out of the tournament. Allen has been withdrawn from the squad due to an ankle injury and has been replaced in the 15-member squad by Akeal Hosein. According to the recent reports, Hosein will be replaced on West Indies’ reserves list by Gudakesh Motie.
Alongside a T20I bowling average of 27.05 and economy of 7.21, Fabian Allen also has a batting strike rate of 138.88 and average of 17.85, while being a firm contender for the title of the world’s greatest fielder. Post the replacement, Motie joins Darren Bravo, Sheldon Cottrell, and Jason Holder on the reserves list.
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As a left-arm finger-spinner, Akeal Hosein seems to be the best possible replacement for Allen. The 28-year-old has played 15 matches – six T2I0s and nine ODIs – for West Indies to date and across 57 T20s has averaged 26.33 with an economy of 6.33 with the ball.
Defending champions @windiescricket have had to make a change to their squad for the #T20WorldCuphttps://t.co/H2QOKF6QUq
— ICC (@ICC) October 20, 2021
Akeal will get his first chance to prove his mettle in Wednesday’s warm-up match between West Indies and Afghanistan, where he could feature alongside Hayden Walsh jr. Like both Fabian Allen and Akeal Hosein, Motie is a left-arm finger-spinner who can be handy with the bat. The 26-year-old is yet to play for West Indies. West Indies start their tournament on 23 October against England.
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West Indies have also asked Dominic Drakes and Odean Smith to stay behind in the UAE following IPL duty to assist the squad’s preparations for the tournament as net bowlers. The Windies begin their World Cup campaign against England on Saturday.
West Indies squad: Kieron Pollard (c), Nicholas Pooran, Okeal 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
