Dubai – West Indies vice-captain Nicholas Pooran brushed off concerns about his patchy form and remained confident of playing a major role in the team’s success during the ICC Men’s Twenty20 World Cup, which opens on Sunday in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman.
The 26-year-old left-hander made only 85 runs at an average of 7.72 playing for the Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League (IPL) this season.
He made 32 off 22 in his first innings when the IPL resumed last month in the UAE and could only muster 25 in his next four innings.
“The IPL is gone,” he said during a virtual news conference on Wednesday. “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, refocus, and plan again – simple as that.”
Pooran’s dip in form led to him being dropped from Punjab’s final IPL match against Chennai Super Kings last Thursday.
But he said his recent form for West Indies and during the Caribbean Premier League, where he scored 263 runs in 10 innings at an average of 32.88 at a strike rate of 163.35 for Guyana Amazon Warriors, gave him confidence that he could turn things around.
(CMC)
