West Indies, a two-time winner, will be without some of its most famous players for the T20 World Cup, but skipper Nicholas Pooran believes star power is not a guarantee of success in a team sport.
With up to 12 players from the West Indies’ World Cup team missing the trip to Australia for various reasons, few people are giving them much of a chance. Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo, and Lendl Simmons, who have all given up playing international cricket, will be missed by the squad. Sunil Narine and Andre Russell are also absent.
“In my opinion, there should be a good mix of older and younger players. When we won those two World Cups, there were a lot of well-known players, but we also had a lot of well-known players in the World Cup last year, and we didn’t qualify. It contributes to the solution to that query. The performance of our squad, not only the big names or the veteran players, is what matters, in my opinion. Prior to their first match against Scotland on Monday, Pooran said, “Certainly Australia won last year and they didn’t have too many famous names, but they obviously had a team and that was shown that that was enough for them to win the World Cup.”
The task for the West Indies is made more difficult by the fact that the majority of the team has never competed in Australia. “Yes, it will be difficult. But our men are certain. We have now been here for more than two weeks. I believe the lads are prepared to go forward and adjusting to these circumstances, Pooran added. Many of these players have never competed in Australia. Although it will be their first time, the lads are excited and confident.
The practice has been excellent, and we are eagerly anticipating the game tomorrow. It would be amazing to take home the title a third time, the southpaw added. Naturally, there are new faces and many younger players on the squad for this particular group. Of course, if we were to win this World Cup, it would be our personal best. Despite winning the competition twice, “We are underdogs in this tournament because many people, including the media and many individuals, don’t believe we can even qualify. Therefore, it will mean a lot to us,” Pooran continued.