West Indies named their squad for the home World Cup on Friday (May 3) with a couple of youngsters given maiden call-ups.

The side will be led by Powell, who has been at the helm since February last year, replacing Nicholas Pooran following the team’s disappointing performance in the 2022 T20 World Cup, where they failed to make the main competition. Alzarri Joseph will be his deputy.

The biggest news is the return of Andre Russell, who did not play for the West Indies in the last edition. Since then, the all-rounder has played eight T20Is, scoring 214 runs with a strike rate of 196.33. He has also made two fifties in this period, with a high score of 71.

Save the date!🗓 The #MenInMaroon get the campaign started on June 2️⃣. #T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/U9wFBeuTwC

— Windies Cricket (@windiescricket) January 5, 2024

Shamar Joseph has been given his maiden World Cup call-up, along with Gudakesh Motie – who has five T20I caps to his name. Motie made his debut in December 2021 but did not take part in the 2022 edition while Joseph replaces Oshane Thomas in the squad. He is yet to play a T20I game and has only played two Tests thus far.

Sunil Narine has not been considered despite recent speculations that he could reverse his retirement following a stellar IPL 2024 campaign. Narine announced his international retirement in November 2023 and skipper Powell recently revealed he had been attempting to coax the spinner to return to play for the West Indies.

West Indies, the co-hosts of the event along with the USA, are placed in Group C alongside Afghanistan, New Zealand, Uganda and Papua New Guinea. They will begin their campaign on June 2 in Guyana against PNG.

West Indies have won the T20 World Cup twice, in 2012 and 2016.

West Indies squad, T20 World Cup 2024

Rovman Powell (c), Alzarri Joseph, Johnson Charles, Roston Chase, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Shai Hope, Akeal Hossain, Shamar Joseph, Brandon King, Gudakesh Motie, Nicholas Pooran, Andre Russell, Sherfane Rutherford, Romario Shepherd