West Indies at WT20 2012 Author: Maaz; Views: 353; Date: 10-09-2012, 04:43;

What does 2012 have in store for them? 

Whenever West Indies have played in a WT20 something eventful has happened. In 2007 they were eliminated early from the tournament after defeats to South Africa and Bangladesh and failed to reach the last 8. In 2009 they had an excellent campaign, reaching the semi final where Chris Gayle carried the bat in a lost cause and during the tournament they defeated Australia, England and India on their road to the semis. In 2010, they hosted the tournament and hosted it impressively, but failed to reach the semis. What does 2012 have in store for them? Here is why many consider them dark horses who are one of the contenders

-Beating NZ 8-1 during a bilateral tour. This would have given them immense confidence. The morale in the camp will high. They have hit form and enter the tournament with a positive mindset.

-Gayle Factor – If Ajmal is the most feared bowler in the world, and then this tall and strong left hander is the most feared batsmen. He doesn’t move his feet much, but hits from such a solid base that he doesn’t need to. He is a monstrous six hitter, but what I like about some of his play recently is he is being measured and calculated in his game and not trying to smash everything. He is biding his time at the top, giving himself a proper look of the bowlers and pitch, playing himself in, knocking the ball around before expanding his game and going for broke. This makes him even more dangerous because run rate is never an issue for him as he can unleash any moment by clearing the ropes and catching up. The longer he spends at the crease, the more brutal he is. Nothing is impossible when he is at the crease. Amazing ball striking power, but with him maturing now, that only makes him all the more brutal.

-Narine Factor – Accurate and bamboozling. Player of the tournament in the IPL. Player of the series in the 4-1 ODI series wins over New Zealand. 5 wickets haul in his 2^nd test. In my opinion, he should be the ICC emerging player of the year 2012. On Sri Lankan pitches, he should enjoy himself.

-Experience – Players like Dwayne Bravo and Pollard are your typical modern day players, freelance T20 cricketers who play in multiple leagues all over the globe. This format is bread and butter for them, calypso cricket in many ways. With many of them, also playing in IPL, BPL the conditions shouldn’t be an issue. I generally believe that the conditions can be overemphasised too much in such a format.

-Easiness of their groups. Australia and Ireland are ranked below them in the preliminary pool and I am backing them to top it. In the super eights, they are up against England and New Zealand who are not used to these conditions either and they will be backing themselves to progress and qualify for the semi final and possibly beyond.

Gibson and Sammy, this T20 World championship could be yours.