St. John's (Antigua), Jan 31 (IANS): The West Indies captain Darren Sammy is backing his team to keep their T20 number one ranking and also win this year's World Twenty20 tournament.

The 32-year-old was on Friday named the West Indies captain for the tournament to be played in India from March 8 to April 3, reports CMC.

Sammy has made 60 appearances in T20 Internationals for the regional side. He previously led the West Indies in Tests and One-Day Internationals, including the 2011 One-Day Cricket World Cup.

This is the third time he will captain the team to the World T20 Tournament. He was at the helm when the Windies beat Sri Lanka at the R. Premadasa Stadium to win the Championship in 2012 and returned as skipper in 2014 when they reached the semi-finals in Bangladesh.

Speaking ahead of the tournament, Sammy said on Saturday: “Whenever I’m called on to represent the West Indies it’s a great feeling. West Indies cricket is my passion. We are ranked at number one and we want to stay there.

"We’re ready to win it again for the people of the Caribbean. We’ve tasted victory and it was a wonderful feeling. We want to taste it again, and we know the people of the region want that was well.”

Sammy added: “The upcoming ICC World T20 championship will be a massive event, and could be one of the biggest cricket tournaments we will ever see. All the world’s best players in this format will be participating and this promises to be something special.

"With the matches being played in India, that adds to the appeal. West Indies will be bringing the ‘A’ game to the party. It will be hard cricket and we will be coming hard.”

The West Indies are due to arrive in Kolkata on March 7. They will have official warm-up matches against India on Thursday, March 10, and against Australia on Sunday, March 13.

The West Indies have been drawn in Group One of the Super 10 stage where they will play alongside England, South Africa, Sri Lanka and one of the qualifiers from the first round.