Skipper Rovman Powell wants his core group of players to prioritise playing for West Indies over franchise cricket

NEW DELHI: Rovman Powell, the captain of the West Indies team, has praised his squad for reigniting enthusiasm for the sport in the Caribbean, despite their elimination from the T20 World Cup.
Although the team narrowly missed out on a semi-final spot after a three-wicket loss to South Africa in a rain-affected Super 8s match in Antigua on Sunday, Powell remains optimistic about the future of West Indies cricket.
The West Indies, who have won the T20 World Cup twice in the past, suffered disappointing early exits in the previous two editions of the tournament. However, Powell has called upon his players to prioritise representing their country over the temptations of lucrative franchise contracts, emphasising the importance of national pride and the impact it can have on the region's cricketing landscape.
"There's a buzz around the region now in playing for West Indies so hopefully that continues, hopefully we continue on the right path," PTI quoted Powell as saying in the post-match interaction.
Powell recognised the appeal and monetary rewards associated with franchise cricket. This reality poses difficulties for the West Indies, a cricket board with limited resources, to regularly assemble their strongest squad.
"It's been good so far for the last year or two. Hopefully guys can always and will mainly choose to play for the West Indies."
"It's always a case for me as a captain to continue to motivate guys to play for the West Indies.
"The driving force of franchise cricket and the money that comes with franchise cricket make it always difficult for a small board like West Indies to field their best team," he added.
Powell highlighted the advancements and developments made by the West Indies team in the T20 format over the past year. He stressed the significance of the strides taken by the team in this particular form of the game during the specified period.
"Not just this tournament but the cricket that we have played over the last 12 months to move from number nine in the world to number three in the ICC ranking is an absolutely amazing jump.
"It's for us as a team to continue working. It's for us as a team to stay still close, close-knitted and it's for us as a team to just keep on building."
He expressed his desire for the team to rebound and perform better in the upcoming 2026 tournament, which will be jointly hosted by India and Sri Lanka.
"Hopefully guys here can continue playing and doing well in international cricket and franchise cricket... And when that time comes, we'll have the same core of players trying to win a World Cup for the Caribbean."
South Africa put in a strong performance, limiting West Indies to a modest total of 135 for 8. The Proteas faced early setbacks in their chase, losing two wickets within the first two overs before rain halted play for nearly an hour.
Following the break, the South African batsmen launched an aggressive assault on the West Indian bowlers, successfully pursuing the adjusted target of 123 runs in 17 overs, completing the task with five deliveries remaining.
Powell conceded that his team fell approximately 20 runs short of a competitive total on a challenging surface, which became more favorable for batting after the rain delay.
"As a team we played some good cricket. We play good cricket in patches and tonight our batters were 15-20 runs short on a difficult wicket," he said.
"The inclement weather isn't something we can control, especially when you're batting first. So, our plan was to be aggressive... We tried to transfer the pressure as a batting group, but it just didn't work.
"It wasn't the easiest off surface but as players we have to adapt and come up with solutions. It needed a little bit more grit, a little bit more determination..."
After the rainfall, Powell mentioned that his spinners encountered challenges in maintaining a firm grasp on the slippery ball, making it harder for them to deliver effectively.
"We knew it was always going to be a little bit difficult with a wet ball especially for us with three spinners but having said that I think the guys bowling group have to be commended with only 130 on the board and I think they really fought for us."
Looking back, Powell believes that the loss to England by eight wickets during the Super Eights stage was a significant setback for the team.
"It was very disappointing for us as players but also it was a wake-up call because we were playing consistently good cricket so it showed us that in T20 cricket anything is possible," he added.