West Indies look to hit the ground running

Kolkata: The West Indies could not have asked for a better venue than the Eden Gardens to start their campaign. It was here in 2016 that they had last won an ICC event, the T20 World Cup when both their men’s and women’s sides annexed the titles a decade back.

But that success was not enough to revive West Indies cricket. Having lost 29 of their 43 matches in the shortest format since the last T20 World Cup, West Indies are currently ranked seventh. The two-time World T20 champions have arrived on the back of some poor results, losing six of their eight series last year, including one to Nepal. They lost 1-2 to Afghanistan and 1-3 to New Zealand and then 1-2 to South Africa with the same squad that they have picked for this World Cup. But West Indies cricket is known to possess some of the world’s biggest power-hitters with most of them showcasing their skills in different franchise-based leagues across the globe. They will of course start as favourites against Scotland, who managed to assemble a hurriedly called side at the eleventh hour when ICC decided to expel Bangladesh from the tournament over after a controversy around the venues.