T20 World Cup 2021: West Indies, from favourites to being on the cusp of crashing out

With power hitters like no others and the tag of being the only team on the planet to win 2 World T20 titles, West Indies was once being regarded as the team to watch out for in the T20 World Cup 2021. But after just 2 games, the defending champions could be heading for an early exit.

2 back-to-back losses to England and South Africa have exposed the Windies' poor batting ability, which is still dependent on the old workhorses. While 42-year-old Chris Gayle and 36-year-old Lendl Simmons have failed to deliver with the bat, 38-year-old Dwayne Bravo has fallen flat as the all-rounder. Windies also have 37-year-old Ravi Rampaul in their ranks, who has managed to take just 1 wicket in 2 games so far. Out of the 19 squad members this time around, 10 were also a part of the 2016 World Cup-winning team 5 years ago. Interestingly, the average age of the West Indies squad is by far the highest among all teams in the competition.

While the Chennai Super Kings might have proved that age is just a number in cricket, but a world tournament is a different ball game altogether. Their batters have let the team down in both matches so far and it makes one believe that several former Windies' stars including Curtly Ambrose being critical of this team was right. While Gayle has scored just 25 runs at run a ball in 2 games so far, Simmons had a strike rate of below 50 in both innings.

Their skipper Kieron Pollard believes that they now have to do what it takes and have to dig deeper as a batting unit.

Windies now take on Bangladesh on Friday and will need a miracle to stand a chance to qualify for the semi-finals. Even if they manage to get 3 wins under their belt, the Windies would have to hope other results to go their way in order to progress.