Daily Times

KARACHI: The Cricket West Indies (CWI) on Friday named a 13-member squad for the three-match Twenty20 International series starting against Pakistan in Karachi from Sunday (tomorrow). The Calypsos roster, led by Jason Mohammed, will feature batsmen Marlon Samuels and Andre Fletcher, who contributed to the success of Peshawar Zalmi with hard-hitting knocks in the recently concluded Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2018. With less than 72 hours to the first ball being bowled, there was increasing concern over the fate of the tour, but the announcement of the 13-man squad has come as a relief to the Pakistan Cricket Board, who have already started selling tickets for the three games to be played at the National Stadium Karachi. As with Sri Lanka’s visit to Pakistan last October, West Indies’ side is well off from what would be considered a full-strength unit. Just four of the side that will tour Pakistan were in West Indies’ squad for the World Cup qualifiers earlier this month, with skipper Jason Holder, Chris Gayle and Devendra Bishoo among those absent. There are two new faces in what is a relatively inexperienced side, Andre McCarthy and Odean Smith having received their maiden call-ups.

Another intriguing aspect to the squad is the complete absence of any players from Barbados. The team is not featuring fan favourite Darren Sammy, who led Peshawar side into the finals as skipper during the PSL. Star players Kieron Pollard and Sunil Narine, who played for Multan Sultans and Lahore Qalandars in the tournament, respectively, are also not part of the squad. “Following the successful hosting of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) final in Karachi on the weekend, our squad are now en route to Pakistan for our three-match T20I series,” a CWI press release quoted CWI Chief Executive Officer Jonny Grave as saying.

“This Tour is a further major step for our friends at the Pakistan Cricket Board to bring their cricket back home, and we are pleased that our players and support staff have recognised this and supported this venture.” Grave said independent security advisors had confirmed to Windies authorities that “they are satisfied that the risk of visiting Pakistan is manageable and can be mitigated to an acceptable level.” Chairman of the CWI Selection Panel, Courtney Browne, said some of the players identified for selection, including regular T20I captain Carlos Brathwaite, had opted out of the tour due to security concerns.

The Pakistan squad for the West Indies series was announced earlier this week and includes Hussain Talat, Asif Ali and Shaheen Shah Afridi – all of whom impressed during PSL 2018.

West Indies were due to visit Pakistan in November, but a number of factors – including unforeseen bad weather – meant the tour had to be postponed. The reluctance of several West Indies players to tour Pakistan due to security concerns has been evident ever since the tour was announced, and it emerged just last week that CWI was offering its players around $25,000 if they agreed to tour Pakistan for the series.

West Indies squad: Jason Mohammad (capt), Samuel Badree, Rayad Emrit, Andre Fletcher, Andre McCarthy, Keemo Paul, Veerasammy Permaul, Rovman Powell, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Marlon Samuels, Odean Smith, Chadwick Walton, Kesrick Williams.

Published in Daily Times, March 31^st 2018.