Daren Sammy was ecstatic after leading West Indies to their second T20 World Cup title in 2016. The team had put adversity aside, united around a shared purpose and delivered. It seemed to confirm that the Caribbean’s supply of T20 talent was enduring, just as the inaugural title in 2012 had suggested.
Ten years later, Sammy is head coach, West Indies are seventh in the T20I rankings and have missed the semi-finals at the four T20 World Cups since their 2016 triumph. Their wider struggles are familiar: they finished second from bottom in the first three World Test Championship cycles and sit eighth in the current one, with one series to play. In ODIs, they missed the last two Champions Trophy editions and failed to qualify for the 2023 World Cup. Since the start of 2025, their 42% win rate in T20Is is better than only Sri Lanka’s and Zimbabwe’s among Full Member sides. Financial strain, a thinning talent pipeline and the demands of an evolving T20 game have complicated their transition, but the India series suggests the ability remains. The challenge is to turn those flashes into sustained success.
Daren Ganga, the former West Indies batter and Trinidad and Tobago captain, brings both playing and leadership experience to the debate over West Indies’ T20 future. He led Trinidad and Tobago to the 2008 Stanford T20 title and the inaugural Champions League final, during a period that helped bring players such as Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine and Lendl Simmons into the T20 spotlight. He sees the current moment as the end of a cycle – and a test of how well West Indies can develop the next generation.
“If you look at the journey of the West Indies T20I side, there was a period of growth which led to maturity with that first ICC T20 World Cup win in 2012. The core of that team went on to win in 2016. That cycle of players has now come to an end,” Ganga says. He names Sammy, Chris Gayle, Andre Russell, Dwayne Bravo, Pollard and Narine as leaders of that success. Some have left the game while others are no longer central to the international side. The challenge is to give the next generation the pathway and preparation to take over.
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