Brathwaite to captain West Indies in Florida

West Indies’ T20 hero Carlos Brathwaite will captain the side for their two matches against India later this month in Florida.

Brathwaite hit four successive sixes off Ben Stokes to win the World T20 for West Indies earlier this year and takes over the captaincy from Darren Sammy, who has been sacked.

Brathwaite, 28, has played just eight T20Is, with three Test appearance and 14 ODI caps.

A WICB release said: “With regards to Sammy’’s omission from the squad, the Chairman [of selectors Courtney Browne] noted that the named-squad was selected purely on players’ performances.

“The selection panel has expressed its thanks to former captain, Darren Sammy for his leadership of that format of the game for the two World Championship titles in 2012 and earlier this year.”

Sunil Narine and Kieron Pollard are both in the squad, having pulled out of the World T20 for different reasons. Both played in the tri-series against South Africa and Australia.

West Indies T20 squad: Andre Fletcher, Andre Russell, Carlos Brathwaite (capt), Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Evin Lewis, Jason Holder, Johnson Charles, Kieron Pollard, Lendl Simmons, Marlon Samuels, Samuel Badree, Sunil Narine.