By Timothy Jaikarran
The name Nicholas Pooran has become a global name and has been uttered on the lips of many ever since making his Hero Caribbean Premiere League (CPL) debut in 2013. In his debut season, Pooran turned out for the then Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel (now Trinbago Knight Riders) at the tender age of 16, which still remains a record for the youngest player in the tournament.
In 2019, the now 23-year old Trinidad and Tobago born player, will be making his debut for the Guyana Amazon Warriors after he was selected as the franchise’s marquee player.
Back in 2013, the stylish wicketkeeper batsman announced himself on the T20 scene with a pugnacious 24 ball 54 against Guyana Amazon Warriors at Providence when his side was struggling. He singlehandedly took on the likes of Sunil Narine, Mohammed Hafeez, James Franklin and Krishamr Santokie and almost pulled off a miracle.
Since then, the Trinidadian earned the reputation of one of the Caribbean’s most explosive power hitters while exhibiting a touch of class. The south paw batsman has played for the Trinbago Knight Riders, St Kitts and Nevis Patriots and Barbados Tridents in previous editions of CPL and is in demand from various white ball franchise leagues around the world.
But his success did not come on a platter. After ordinary returns in CPL 2013 and 2014 where he ended with 102 runs from 8 innings and 107 from 8 innings respectively his career took another blow. In January of 2015 the budding talent was involved in an accident while driving home from training.
He came out with a ruptured left patella tendon and fractured his right ankle, raising a serious concern about him ever playing cricket again. Spending two years out of the game, Pooran announced his return in the 2016 edition of CPL when he amassed 217 runs in eight innings, earning him a maiden international call up to the West Indies side to take on Pakistan in Dubai. In 2017 while not having such a good outing he managed to score 151 runs, but his never give up attitude propelled him into the best form of his life.
Pooran was able to amass a total of 267 runs at an average of 33.37, making 2018 his best year in the CPL. To date, he has appeared in 102 T20 matches including stints in the Pakistan Super League, Indian Premier League, Bangladesh Premier League, Canada Global T20, Sharjah T10 League and the Vitality T20 Blast in England.
As the world tries to get more of Pooran he will be looking to add to his nine half centuries in the format and to better his highest score of 81 feats that should be achieved in CPL in 2019 which is by far his best year.
Since playing for Kings XI Punjab in the 2019 IPL, the explosive Pooran has further developed as a batsman and showed his maturity when he shouldered West Indies batting in the 2019 World Cup in England. After stroking his maiden ODI half-century against England, the gifted Pooran went on to make a valiant 115 against Sri Lanka and wrapped up the campaign with 58 against Afghanistan to finish as the leading run scorer for the West Indies with a total of 367 runs at an average of 52.42. He was also ranked number 16 out of a total of 50 of the tournament’s top batsmen.
Bursting with an abundance of talent, the gifted wicket-keeper batsman, Pooran, is a player to watch out for during the 2019 Hero CPL when he suits up for the Guyana Amazon Warriors.
