West Indies white-ball captain Nicholas Pooran is in no mood to give up after their T20 World Cup debacle and vowed to bounce back strongly, taking the first-round exit as “motivation”.
Two-time champions West Indies were eliminated in the qualifiers for the first time in the history of the ongoing show. West Indies, the most successful T20 World Cup team, failed to qualify for the Super 12 stage, after which coach Phil Simmons decided to retire, with the two-Test series in Australia, starting on November 30 in Perth, set to his life. the last task.
“Playing cricket is my dream and obviously, I’ve also had my test in life and this is another test for me,” Pooran said ahead of reigning champions Trinidad and Tobago in the Super50 Cup, a regional List A tournament.
”I’m a person who embraces challenges and this was just another one for me. It won’t stop me. I will continue to learn from my experiences and again, I am happy that I can wake up in the morning and see that I have an opportunity to play cricket again,” he added.
Pooran was forced into the captaincy after the sudden retirement of Kieron Pollard in May this year and his next big challenge would be the ODI World Cup in India next year.
As of now, the West Indies do not have any white-ball international duty until the South Africa tour in February-March next year.
”Obviously, we don’t know what the future holds, but we’ll take it day by day. Again, it was a learning experience for all of us and this is our journey and our story,” said Pooran. “Time will tell what happens, but for now, it’s just about focusing on ourselves and how we can improve as individuals.
Rest is the ultimate (way to heal) and every player needs it, but even inside he is still hurt. I want to use that injury as motivation and definitely come back strong.” Blaming the batsmen for their disastrous T20 World Cup campaign, Cricket West Indies president Ricky Skerritt has called for a “complete postmortem”.
Echoing similar views, CWI chief executive Johnny Grave has said they need honest soul-searching to find answers, but refused to back down.
”I don’t control it (the output). My contract ends in June 2023. But am I out? Will I resign? No, I’m not,” Grave said on the Mason and Guest radio show.
“For whatever reason, we didn’t execute under pressure in Hobart. Now, has there been too much pressure on the team? Why didn’t the players apply those skills?” Urging the demoralized squad to face up, Grave said: ”It can’t just be the players or the coaches. It should be people who understand and have been successful in setting up strategies and structures and also players who have executed them. We have received information from our players and are digging deep.”
(This story was not edited by Devdiscourse staff and was automatically generated from a syndicated source.)
