First, an accident and it followed the trauma of not being able to walk for six months, the life was nearly ended for 20-year-old Nicholas Pooran a few years ago. But it was Kieron Pollard who stepped into the scene as a guardian who motivated him and within three years, Pooran becomes the vital cog in West Indies’ white-ball set-up under Pollard’s captaincy.
“He’s been a like a big brother to me, a father-figure. He’s been there since I returned to cricket. He gave me opportunity. I’m thankful for that,” said Pooran, who has started repaying his captain’s faith with the scores of 29* off 23 balls, 75 off 47 balls and 89 off 64 balls in the recently concluded ODI series against India.
“Check out for Nicholas Pooran, he is a savage youngster,” ‘Universe Boss’ Chris Gayle had said earlier.
Within six months, Pooran has proved his value with 20 boundaries and nine sixes in three ODIs with an ODI average of 52 in 19 games. While talking about Pollard, Pooran says that their off-field friendship helps in the middle.
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“We (him and Pollard) knew each other and we are really good friends on and off the field. So we know how to complement each other while batting,” Pooran said. “We play with each other, with the same club, same franchise back home. So we had good understanding of the wicket and the situation in the game and just executed our skills.”
During the match, the brief from his captain was simple. Pollard will attack the spinners whereas he would take on the pacers.
“We know how to complement each other. Polly was stronger to the spinners, so we allowed him to attack Kuldeep (Yadav) and I would try and play more shots to the pacers. It worked out. Definitely we were on a team building (mode). India are one of the strongest teams in the world. They proved that again today in the T20I and ODI series. At least we came here and we showed fight,” he shared.
“There’s better things to come. We are taking it day-by-day and eventually we’ll get where we want to get,” he concluded.
