West Indies Cricket Board announced a 15-member squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup 2026, which will be played in India and Sri Lanka from February 7. The team that West Indies has announced is full of experience, youth and the X-factor.
The team has all the elements that a team wants to make a strong team. While the team has star players like Shai Hope, Shimron Hetmyer and Jason Holder, there is also a certain batsman who has played only three T20 matches for the West Indies cricket team so far.
Will Sanju Samson play for West Indies in T20 World Cup 2026?
Meanwhile, during an interview, West Indies cricket team head coach Darren Sammy mentioned the name of India batsman Sanju Samson while explaining the team selection. Actually, Sammy was talking about the selection of Quentin Sampson, who had played only 3 T20Is for his country before being named in the T20I squad.
Sammy mistakenly mentioned Sanju Samson instead of Quentin Sampson. Sampson’s selection in the squad for the 2026 World Cup came as a surprise to many cricket fans and experts, as the cricketer has very limited experience in international cricket.
Who is Quinton Simpson?
The 25-year-old made his T20I debut on January 19 during the West Indies vs Afghanistan T20I match in Dubai. In this match, the lower order batsman added an important 30 runs, which could have been enough to impress the selectors. In three matches against Afghanistan, Sampson scored 35 runs at an average of 11.66 with a strike rate of 100.
His innings of 30 off 24 balls came during the first match of the series when West Indies were chasing 182 runs. Batting at number 6, he hit two fours and two sixes in the space of three balls off Rashid Khan.
Darren Sammy told that his T20I team has many hard hitters like Shimron Hetmyer, Brandon King and Rovman Powell. So they needed someone who could bat patiently against spin bowlers. The T20 World Cup is going to be held in India and Sri Lanka, where the spinners got extra help from the pitch.
Darren Sammy reveals why he included Quentin Sampson in the squad
“However, if you look at the balance of the team, we have three opening batsmen, and we have middle-order batsmen like Shimron and Rovman. We needed someone in that middle period who has the ability to challenge spin, like Samson did in the CPL (Caribbean Premier League),” Sammy said.
Sammy said this, “The next best option among the players we had available to play that type of role was Sanju Samson,” Sammy immediately realized that he had mistakenly mentioned the name of Sanju Samson instead of Simpson. Shivering all over and with a slight smile on his face, Sammy quickly corrected his mistake.
read more: India’s playing eleven selected for T20 World Cup 2026; Arshdeep Singh out, Sanju Samson in
