West Indies: Fall from grace as two-time T20 World Cup champions fail to make main round

The freefall of the West Indies cricket team continues as they were knocked out from the preliminary round of the T20 World Cup 2022 after a shock defeat against Ireland on Friday.

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In a winner-take-all final match of the group stage, Ireland secured a nine-wicket win by chasing down the 147-run target with 15 balls to spare to reach the Super 12s. With the famous win at Hobart, Ireland advanced to the main round of a T20 World Cup for the first time since their debut in 2009.

On the other hand, it’s the first time that West Indies will not feature in the main round of a T20 World Cup. This is a big fall from grace for the West Indies cricket team which is the only side to win the T20 World Cup two times — in 2012 and 2016. West Indies also reached the semi-finals in 2009 and 2014.

The troubles for West Indies began even before the tournament as hard-hitting batter Shimron Hemyer was dropped from the squad for missing the flight.

They were then stunned by Scotland in their first Group B game of the qualifying round for Super 12s by 42 runs. West Indies kept their hopes alive by beating Zimbabwe by 31 runs but defeat to Ireland sealed their fate.

“We haven’t batted well in this tournament at all,” West Indies captain Pooran said after loss to Ireland. “On a really good batting surface, making 145, to ask the bowlers to defend that was always going to be a challenge.

“We have disappointed our fans back home. Most importantly, we’ve disappointed ourselves.”

West Indies’ results at T20 World Cups:

2007: Group stage

2009: Semi-finals

2010: Super 8

2012: Champions

2014: Semi-finals

2016: Champions

2021: Super 12

2022: First round

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