Gayle, Pollard included in Windies` provisional World T20 squad

St. John`s: The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has included Chris Gayle and Kieron Pollard in a provisional 30-member squad for the World Twenty20 in Bangladesh March-April.

Both players missed out on the recent series against India and New Zealand. Gayle suffered a hamstring tear in India in November and Pollard was ruled out of the tour with a knee injury. Also named in the provisional list of players are Darren Sammy, Marlon Samuels and Ravi Rampaul, who sustained injuries on the recent tour of New Zealand, and Fidel Edwards, who is returning to international cricket. The West Indies are hoping to assemble their strongest team to defend their T20 world title they won against Sri Lanka in 2012. The ICC World T20 will be played in Bangladesh from March 16 to April 6. The West Indies play their opening match against India March 23. Provisional Squad: Christopher Barnwell, Sulieman Benn, Tino Best, Samuel Badree, Darren Bravo, Dwayne Bravo, Johnson Charles, Kevon Cooper, Sheldon Cottrell, Fidel Edwards, Rayad Emrit, Andre Fletcher, Chris Gayle, Jason Holder, Nikita Miller, Sunil Narine, Ashley Nurse, Veerasammy Permaul, Kieron Pollard, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Andre Russell, Darren Sammy, Marlon Samuels, Krishmar Santokie, Lendl Simmons, Dwayne Smith, Chadwick Walton.