West Indies WC 2015 squad: Pollard and Bravo left out, Sunil Narine included

Dwayne Bravo (L) and Kieron Pollard

All-rounders Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard have been left out of the West Indies 2015 World Cup squad captained by Jason Holder, while off-spinner Sunil Narine makes a return to international cricket after being suspended from bowling in the BCCI-organised tournaments during the Champions League T20 last year. Narine was later withdrawn from the West Indies squad for the India series, as he was in the risk of getting banned from international cricket too.

It is understood that the senior players Bravo and Pollard are paying the price for their roles in the Windies pull-out of the India tour in October 2014. Midway through the ODI leg of the tour, West Indies under the then ODI captain Bravo announced that they will not play the remainder of the series due to a contract dispute between the WICB and WIPA – a decision that led to the BCCI suing the WICB claiming damages worth Rs 400 crore (US$65 million approx).

The team is capable of lifting the trophy – Clive Llyod

After announcing the squad, the chairman of the West Indies selection committee, Clive Llyod said in a press release: “I believe we have selected a very good team which will do West Indies proud at the World Cup. We have a good mixture of some good seasoned players and some good youngsters who will fly the West Indies flag in Australia and New Zealand.”

He added: “If they play to their potential I am quite sure we will do very well. I have really high hopes in this team - I believe they can do something special. We have the talent and if we can play to our potential we have a very good chance of lifting that trophy.”

Pollard and Bravo have been the mainstays of the Caribbean limited overs outfits, and it remains to be seen how the ODI team, already down in the rankings table at No. 8, compensates their loss. The duo has played a total of 347 matches, sharing 6530 runs and 294 wickets between them.

15-member squad: Jason Holder (captain), Marlon Samuels, Sulieman Benn, Darren Bravo, Jonathan Carter, Sheldon Cottrell, Chris Gayle, Sunil Narine, Denesh Ramdin, Kemar Roach, Andre Russell, Darren Sammy, Lendl Simmons, Dwayne Smith, Jerome Taylor.