Toby Marshall
“It would be our biggest achievement”
Nicholas Pooran reflects on a young West Indies squad for the ICC T20 World Cup 2022
West Indies will look in a completely different color in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022. The team has let go of a lot of big names including the likes of Chris Gayle, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, and Shimron Hetmyer. Meanwhile, the veterans like Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard have announced their retirement from international cricket.
In the absence of big names, the team will be relying on young and dynamic stars to do something wonderful in the tournament. West Indies skipper Nicholas Pooran is not concerned about the lack of experience in his team. The wicketkeeper-batter claimed that having big names in the squad does not guarantee success, as they failed to qualify for the playoffs last year.
He also cited the example of Australia winning the T20 World Cup last year in the United Arab Emirates without the presence of many superstars. Pooran is confident of his team doing well as they have a balanced mix of experienced and younger players.
The road to victory will not be easy for the West Indies as they will first have to play the Qualifiers to reach the Super 12 round. The team forms a part of Group B alongside Scotland, Zimbabwe, and Ireland. They previously won the T20 World Cup trophy in 2012 and 2016.
Speaking about his team in detail, Nicholas Pooran said, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo, “Yeah, it [winning the title] would definitely be something special. Obviously, for this group here, it’s a new group, new faces, and a lot of younger players in the team. For us to obviously win this World Cup, it would be our biggest achievement as individuals.
“We are underdogs in this tournament [even though] we have won the tournament twice, and a lot of people, a lot of media you see, a lot of people don’t think we can even qualify, as well. So, it will mean a lot to us. We spoke about sticking this time together. Whether we win or lose, we’re going to stick together as a group, so winning this tournament, yeah, obviously we need to work really hard, but it would mean the world to us.”
The Nicholas Pooran-led side failed to start the T20 World Cup 2022 on a good note. They lost their opening game to Scotland by 42 runs. It was a below-average batting performance by the side. Chasing 161 runs, Indies collapsed at only 118 runs. Apart from Jason Holder, no player could score more than 20 runs. For the team to do well, the batters need to find the rhythm at the earliest.
After a massive upset by Scotland, West Indies will have to win both the remaining league games to qualify for the Super 12 round.
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