T20 WC 2024: Powell wants his players to prioritise playing for WI

The T20 World Cup 2024 campaign may have ended for West Indies but skipper Rovman Powell hailed the side for bringing back the buzz He also stated that his players should prioritise national duty over featuring in franchise cricketEarlier West Indies suffered disgrace in the last two T20 World Cup editions In the ongoing T20 World Cup 2024 they fell short against South Africa in the Super 8 matchTheres a buzz around the region now in playing for West Indies so hopefully that continues hopefully we continue on the right path Powell said in the postmatch interactionPowell acknowledged the allure and financial incentives of franchise cricket which make it challenging for the West Indies a smaller cricket board to consistently field their best teamIts been good so far for the last year or two Hopefully guys can always and will mainly choose to play for West IndiesAlso ReadT20 World Cup 2024 IND vs AUS Key battlesIts always a case for me as a captain to continue to motivate guys to play for West Indies The driving force of franchise cricket and the money that comes with franchise cricket make it always difficult for a small board like West Indies to field their best team he addedRovman Powell also opened up on the T20I progress West Indies made in the last 12 months Not just this tournament but the cricket that we have played over the last 12 months to move from number nine in the world to number three in the ICC ranking is an absolutely amazing jumpIts for us as a team to continue working Its for us as a team to stay still close closeknit and its for us as a team to just keep on buildingPowell also hoped that his side would come back stronger in the next edition of the T20 World Cup which will be cohosted by India and Sri LankaHopefully guys here can continue playing and doing well in international cricket and franchise cricket And when that time comes well have the same core of players trying to win a World Cup for the CaribbeanSouth Africa did well to restrict West Indies to 135 for 8 In reply the Proteas were 15 for 2 in two overs when rain disrupted proceedings for close to an hourBut after the resumption the Proteas batters went hammer and tongs to chase down the revised target of 123 in 17 overs with five balls to spareWest Indies skipper Rovman Powell admitted that his side fell short of 20 runs on the pitch which got better after the rain rain interruption As a team we played some good cricket We play good cricket in patches and tonight our batters were 1520 runs short on a difficult wicket he saidThe inclement weather isnt something we can control especially when youre batting first So our plan was to be aggressive We tried to transfer the pressure as a batting group but it just didnt workIt wasnt the easiest off surface but as players we have to adapt and come up with solutions It needed a little bit more grit a little bit more determinationPowell said it became difficult for his spinners to grip the wet ball after rain We knew it was always going to be a little bit difficult with a wet ball especially for us with three spinners but having said that I think the guys bowling group have to be commended only 130 on the board and I think they really fought for usPowell also feels that the Super 8 match loss against England cost them It was very disappointing for us as players but also it was a wakeup call because we were playing consistently good cricket so it showed us that hey on in T20 cricket anything is possible he addedWith PTI Inputs