While his players may have gotten lucrative agreements during the IPL mega auction, West Indies captain Kieron Pollard said on Tuesday that it’s time to move on and concentrate on international cricket as his team prepares to take on India in the T20 series.
14 West Indians were chosen from a huge pool of available players to join Pollard, Sunil Narine, and Andre Russell, who were retained by their respective clubs ahead of the auction, making up the IPL’s largest contingent of foreign players from any territory outside of India.
“Now that the IPL auction is over, it’s back to international cricket.” They’ll deal with it when the IPL starts. On the eve of their three-match T20I series here, the Windies skipper stated in a virtual media interaction, “It’s about representing the West Indies and putting your best foot forward today.”
When West Indies wicketkeeper-batsman and vice-captain Nicholas Pooran was picked up by Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs 10.75 crore in the IPL mega auction on Sunday, he garnered the highest bid among his colleagues.
“I wouldn’t say that,” Pollard responded when asked if the players will try to justify their high salaries by demonstrating their skills in the series. They desire to do well every time they have the chance to represent their International squad. These guys would have been picked for the Indian Premier League. Every time you step onto a cricket field, you are expected to perform admirably.”
West Indies were blanked 0-3 in the ODI series, and Pollard sought to make atonement in the T20I series.
“Guys who haven’t been here before will have had some practise playing against a well-drilled Indian team.” It’s all about continuous improvement for us. “That’s something we can definitely improve on,” he remarked.
Pollard stated that they will be buoyed by their exciting 3-2 victory over England in their most recent T20I series at home.
“It’s all about consistency for us.” Against England, we enjoyed a fantastic series. Toward the conclusion of the innings, we faltered a couple of times. “However, we demonstrated that there is something inside these individuals and a desire to succeed,” he remarked.
“We have a lot of faith in ourselves.” We were able to defeat England, which will give us that extra boost of confidence going into the match against India. The lads are excited to score runs on these types of surfaces, which are suited to strokemaking. We’re excited about it, and the players are quite confident.”
Pollard has missed the previous two ODIs due to a sore knee, but he is eager to return for the T20I series.
“Things have gotten better for me.” One of the knees, to be precise. and the 50-over game’s rigours were quite challenging. “At this time, all of us are eligible for selection,” he explained.
“It looks like a very nice cricketing wicket,” Pollard remarked of the pitch. There’s obviously something in it for the bowlers. There’s still a coolness in the air, and the ball should be able to slide onto the bat with the dew around it.”
He, on the other hand, did not appear to be bothered by the dew.
“The dew will affect both teams, so we’ll see what occurs and who can best deal with the dew.”