T20 World Cup: Rejigged batting order, spinners make Caribbeans look sharp

The T20 World Cup is barely in its second week but West Indies, winners of the last T20 World Cup played on Indian soil in 2016, seem to have a plan in place after two wins from as many games. Not only are they in pole position to top Group C after humbling fancied England in Mumbai on Wednesday, 11 February, but the manner in which they went about their job serves as a warning for others.

In a topsy-turvy 2025, some of the lowest points for the multiple World T20 winners were a 3-0 drubbing by England and a series loss against Nepal, whom they will be playing next. If an explosive but brittle batting line-up had often been the reason behind their unpredictability, coach Darren Sammy and the team management have tried to maximise available resources by promoting Shimron Hetmyer to number three and an in-form Sherfane Rutherford to five, with the power of Rovman Powell and Jason Holder to follow in the lower order.

After a comfortable start against Scotland on the opening day of the competition, West Indies came up with a tactical move by bringing in the experienced Roston Chase — who held firm with a responsible 34 at number four — and beefed up the spin attack with left-arm Gudakesh Motie to end with two for 29.

The talking point of the evening was, of course, Player of the Match Rutherford’s blazing 76 off 42 balls against a quality attack which propelled the Caribbeans to a par total.

A relevant question at the post-match media conference was whether Rutherford had done enough justice to his talent so far — showing an average of 22 or thereabouts after 50-odd T20Is. Captain Shai Hope was quick to defend him though: ‘’You can just watch him (Sherfane) and see how special he is. But sometimes we got to throw stats out the window every now and again. You can just look at a player and see what impact he has on a team.

‘’If you ask any bowler in world cricket, if they see Sherfane (Rutherford) at the next end, they’re going to always feel as though they’re under pressure. So I don’t think we necessarily need to focus too much on the stats. I’m sure that they will improve over the next few years because he’s a quality player. Like I said before, I’m just happy to see him getting the success that he truly deserves because he’s been playing really well, he’s been training hard and it’s only a matter of time before the consistency comes.’’

The ploy to introduce Chase in the second game also came up for discussion and the captain said: ‘’Like I said at the toss, it was a tactical change. He’s one of those players who can come in and call at any moment in time. We understood the threat that they (England) have with some of those left handers who can take the game away from us. We saw he was very crucial and essential with the bat in our batting as well - so he gave us some stability. Like I said, he’s one of those utility players that you can never neglect.’’

With two out of two, West Indies are now leading the group and take on spunky Nepal on Sunday, 15 February. Looking ahead, Hope said: ‘’Like I said before, it’s a World Cup. Any team in this tournament can beat any other one on a day - so we’ve got to ensure we’re still executing the way we need to. The planning must be there once again, not taking anyone lightly.

‘’We understand the importance of every single game, even though we gave ourselves a nice position to be in, but still we’ve got to ensure we plan it the same way and execute it the same way against Nepal,’’ he added.