"I just have to refocus and go again" - Nicholas Pooran backs himself to do well in the T20 World Cup after a lean IPL season
West Indian hard-hitting keeper-batsman Nicholas Pooran has stated he is ready to bounce back in the T20 World Cup after a forgettable IPL 2021 season. Nicholas Pooran has joined the West Indies' bubble in Dubai after his franchise Punjab Kings exited early from the IPL.
Pooran, who had a highly productive IPL 2020, was nowhere close to his best in the subsequent season. The southpaw scored only 85 runs at an average of 7.72 for the Punjab Kings with a best of 32. Pooran will notably serve as Kieron Pollard's deputy at the World Cup.
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Nicholas Pooran stressed at refocusing as the IPL was now done and admitted it didn't go as planned. The 26-year old said his low scores reflected how he failed to stick to the process, paying the price. He said, as quoted by ESPN Cricinfo:
"The IPL is gone. It's done for me. I just have to refocus and go again. I know personally [that] I've let myself down in terms of not sticking with my process long enough. I felt like I rushed the results a lot and I paid the price. You could see that in my scores. It's just for me to refocus now, hit the nets, work hard and plan again - simple as that."
The left-handed batsman added:
"I'm not concerned at all. My cricket is based on confidence and my intent. I left the first half of the season scoring what, 20 runs in five, six, seven games [28 runs in six innings]. I came and did decent in the last three series for West Indies and in CPL.
'It's about my process, continuing to believe in my process, having faith in my process, and my confidence is very high. I have no doubts in my mind that I can execute my gameplan and do good for the team."
The Guyanese endured a decent CPL 2021, scoring 263 runs in 10 innings at 32.87, striking at 163.35. He is likely to play at number four for the defending champions in the competition.
We have players that play certain roles but as a batting group we want to get better: Nicholas Pooran
Pooran also highlighted that West Indies have players that can adapt to any conditions or pitches. The southpaw wants the team to stick to its attacking intent but play smartly to thrive in the UAE.
"For the last couple of months, in the three series in the Caribbean, everything was about 'singles, singles, singles. We spoke about it and chatted about it. We have players that play certain roles but as a batting group we want to get better, we want to improve. Yes, singles are a part of the game, but our focus is not too much on singles.
'We won two World Cups with the same problem, to be honest: not getting singles, but yet still we won two World Cups. It's more about intent - intent and playing smart cricket, that's it."
The men in maroon are clubbed with Australia, South Africa and England in group two and will open their campaign against the Three Lions in Dubai.