Everyone was surprised by the two-time champions West Indies’ early exit from the 20-20 World Cup 2022. In the first round of the tournament, the Men in Maroon only managed one win out of three matches. As a result, Zimbabwe and Ireland from their group qualified for the super 12 stages.
West Indies cricket is no longer the dominant force that it once was. The team’s former captain Kieron Pollard is also of the same opinion. He described the elimination from the first round as a “sad day” for Caribbean Cricket.
A bit surprised, to be honest: Kieron Pollard
“A bit surprised, to be honest, that [West Indies] weren’t able to get over the line against the other teams. But again, that speaks volumes of where our cricket as is at the moment. I feel it. I feel it for the guys because they are the ones that are going to get the bashing. And it’s not all their fault,” Pollard told i95.5fm, a Trinidad-based radio station as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.
The unexpected departure of the West Indies sparked mockery both at home and abroad. Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting called the team’s performance a “disgrace,” while Cricket West Indies president Ricky Skerritt promised an urgent “post-mortem.”
We have a young captain, we have young players, guys who would have played only a handful of [matches in] T20 cricket and now they are in the World Cup. And when I look back at it, I sit back and I have a smile on my face. Because I remember some of the things that was said last year around this time, when some individuals weren’t selected,” Pollard said.
“I just had to remind these people that there was a World Cup we were going to [in 2021] and another bilateral series [in New Zealand]. And now some of the individuals get the opportunity to play in the World Cup. And, again, look what has happened. It’s no fault of theirs. But when we tried to sort of protect them and let people understand [in 2021], they were not ready for that, we were lambasted. There were a lot of things that were said that were very derogatory at times. It’s a sad day for West Indies cricket and all of us,” he further added.
