The defending champions West Indies have suffered a big setback with all-rounder Fabian Allen injuring his ankle. Allen, a key part of the West Indian batting order has been ruled out of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup in UAE and Oman. He has been replaced by the left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein and his entry into the West Indies 15-man squad has been approved by the ICC Event Technical Committee.
Hosein was in the reserve list of the West Indies squad and now he will be placed by Gudakesh Motie, ICC said.
Allen’s absence will be a huge miss for the Windies as his left-arm spin bowling in the format would have brought much-sought balance to the playing XI while his agile fielding and ability to soak up the pressure with the bat in the end overs of the game would have bolstered the batting department.
He has been an experienced campaigner and holds a T20I bowling average of 27.05 and an economy rate of 7.21 while batting with a strike rate of 138.88 and an average of 17.85 while being a firm contender for the title of the world’s greatest fielder.
West Indies are scheduled to start their defence of the championship with the clash against England, the team they had defeated in the finals of the last edition to lift the trophy for the second time in 2016 in India.