Quote:Coach Simmons is of the opinion that being World T20 champions elevated the team's confidence, and went as far as to compare them to the great team of the 1980s. "In this context, I think it's a case where we are world champions and it's something we have made our own, similar to back in the '80s when we made Test cricket our own. We always had the team to beat in T20 cricket so from that point of view we've got a lot better and all the guys are loving playing it."

Now that is high praise for sure. Not many would go that far. But Brathwaite's side is undeniably a seriously formidable one.

Now, compare the West Indies' T20 team to the one it fields in cricket's longest format.

Defeated 2-0 by India in the recent four-match series at home, it was apparent to everyone watching that the hosts was completely outclassed by the visitors. Whereas Brathwaite leads a team of highly skilled and experienced players, the ones lined up behind his Barbadian brethren Jason Holder are mostly neophytes just wetting their feet in international cricket, many of them with less than stellar first-class records.