West Indies T20 opener Andre Fletcher insists the team does not sweat about its current position in the world rankings, which stands at 9th despite being two-time world champions.
Heading into the series against New Zealand, which bowls off on Friday, the Windies will stand a full three places below their hosts on the global charts. In terms of world titles in the format, however, it is the West Indies who lead having claimed two, with New Zealand yet to win one. Fletcher does not believe the rankings will influence the team; in terms of the way it operates playing cricket internationally.
“Sometimes it’s tough winning two World Cups and ranking at 9th in the world. It’s kind of unbalanced but we will get back up there with the ranking as long as we continue to play our brand of cricket,” Fletcher told members of the media.
“I don’t think anything will change, we’ll continue playing our brand of cricket,” he added.
Of course, one disparity that could account for the difference between the titles and world ranking is the fact that the West Indies often has key players missing for T20 internationals, due to other T20 league commitments or injury. They remain the only team to have claimed the title on two occasions.