West Indies have reason to be wary of opportunistic Scotland
KOLKATA, India (CMC) — When the West Indies take on Scotland in their opening match of the ICC Men’s Twenty20 World Cup on Saturday, they will do so as heavy favourites.
However, the regional team can ill afford to be overconfident against a team that shocked them at the 2022 World Cup.
Scotland are only in India after the ICC removed Bangladesh from the tournament following their refusal to travel to the sub-continent to play their opening group matches, citing security concerns.
West Indies have not arrived in India in the best of form, having won just two of their last seven T20Is within the last month.
They will be hoping to turn those fortunes around with the help of their usually reliable captain, Shai Hope, and the in-form Shimron Hetmyer and Sherfane Rutherford, with the pitches in India expected to be batter-friendly.
Much will also be expected from the hard-hitting trio of Rovman Powell, Matthew Forde, and Romario Shepherd, who will be counted on to shepherd the middle and lower order.
On the bowling side, Akeal Hosein, Gudakesh Motie, and Roston Chase — the three spinners in the squad — will shoulder much of the responsibility, with pacers Shamar Joseph and Jayden Seales providing support.
The Windies have slipped to seventh in the ICC’s Twenty20 International (T20I) ranking but are still seven spots ahead of Scotland.
On paper, they are the better team, but Scotland has made it clear they are not there just to make a number, despite having not played a T20I since losing to Jersey in July.
Foremost on their mind is their 42-run victory over the West Indies at Hobart four years ago.
According to veteran player Mark Watt, they are determined to make the most of the opportunity.
“I mean, firstly, we’re very sympathetic towards Bangladeshi players, but we still massively believe that we should be here.
“We believe that we can beat teams higher ranked than us. So there’s no second guess in our invite into this tournament. We’re all ready to go,” he said.
“We’re definitely going out there to win the game. We’ve beaten them twice very recently, so I don’t see why we can’t do it again. We’re all very confident.”
Shai Hope, West Indies white-ball captain
WATT… we’ve beaten them twice very recently, so I don’t see why we can’t do it again
Daren Sammy, West Indies head coach Photo: CWI Media
