43, 115, 34 and 104 not out. Those were
Nicholas Pooran’s individual scores from the
West Indies four matches during the Group
Stage of the 2023 ODI World Cup Qualifier
being played in Zimbabwe. Unfortunately,
Pooran’s outstanding batting proved
insufficient to the West Indies qualification
hopes as successive losses to first Zimbabwe,
followed closely by those to the Netherlands
and Scotland scuttled any chances of their
further progression.
Pooran’s consistency as one of the West Indies
middle-order batsmen has been a long time
coming. In the 59 ODI matches he’s played for
the West Indies so far, Pooran has batted in
56 innings and scored 1950 runs at an average
of 39.79 but with only three centuries and
eleven half-centuries!
As far back as four years prior, Nicholas Pooran
had confirmed his status as one of the most
exciting young batting talents in the modern
game with a sublime innings of 118 off 103 in
West Indies’ defeat to Sri Lanka at the 2019
World Cup, but only four years earlier the
idea that he would play international cricket
seemed fanciful.
A year after finishing as the fourth-highest
run-scorer at the U-19 World Cup in early
2014, Pooran was involved in a serious car
accident which left him with a torn patella
tendon, fractured tibia and fractured ankle.
After a long recovery process, he was handy
a substantial contract for Barbados Tridents inthe 2016 CPL on Kieron Pollard’s recommendation. Unsure whether his body would continue to hold
up, Pooran looked to maximise his earnings by playing in every franchise league he could including the
BPL, the PSL, the Hong Kong Blitz, the T10 and for West Indies B in the Global T20 Canada. His first
BPL deal, in 2016-17, earned him a ban from the WICB, who were displeased at his decision not to
play regional cricket instead.
His international breakthrough came in late 2018, when he hit his first half-century for West Indies off
just 24 balls against India in Chennai. From there, he was parachuted into the World Cup squad, and
given an opportunity as West Indies’ No. 4 despite limited experience in 50-over cricket. He hit fifties
against England and Afghanistan, plus a thrilling hundred against Sri Lanka, and finished the tournament
with an average of 52.47 and a strike rate of 100.
After an underwhelming first season for Kings XI Punjab in the IPL – he was previously picked up by
Mumbai Indians in 2017 but did not play a game – he enjoyed a stellar 2020 season in the UAE, making
353 runs at a strike rate of 170, demonstrating his ability to dominate against spin and also pulling off
a remarkable boundary save in the deep. He had come into the season off the back of a maiden T20
hundred for Guyana Amazon Warriors in the CPL, and followed it by playing his first first-class games
in over six years for West Indies A in New Zealand