ZIM vs WI: West Indies’ national anthem is not being played in the T20 World Cup, the reason is such that even ICC is forced to do so

West Indies National Anthem: The West Indies team is performing brilliantly in the ICC T20 World Cup 2026. He has once again shown his dominance by winning all the matches in the league stage. The team has also entered the Super 8 with confidence. However, one thing has caught the attention of fans during the tournament – ​​the West Indies national anthem is not being played before the match.

Why is the national anthem of West Indies not playing?

Actually, West Indies is not an independent country, but a group of 15 countries and territories of the Caribbean region, which together form a joint cricket team. This is the reason why it is not possible to play the national anthem of any one country in an ICC tournament. The West Indies cricket team consists of players from several other Caribbean territories, including Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago. Some areas are under British, Dutch or American administration. In such a situation, playing the national anthem of any one country will not be fair to other countries.

The tradition of cricket anthem started in 1999

For this reason, from 1999, West Indies started the tradition of playing the official “cricket anthem” before their matches. The team adopted David Rudder’s famous calypso song “Rally Round the West Indies” as its cricket anthem. The song was written in the 1980s and is considered a symbol of Caribbean unity. Earlier, there was a time when the national anthem of the country from which the captain belonged was played. But players from other countries were not satisfied with this arrangement. Hence the cricket anthem was adopted to strengthen the joint identity.

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The national anthem could have taken 20 minutes.

If the national anthems of all the West Indies member countries were played, it would take about 20 minutes before the match. This is also the practical reason why only his cricket anthem is played in ICC tournaments. In recent years, songs such as “Full Ah Energy” have also been used to engage younger audiences during home series. The West Indies team plays unitedly on the field and this is its real identity. Playing cricket anthem instead of national anthem is a symbol of that unity.