Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) have passed on the reins of captaincy to one of the world’s leading players, Nicholas Pooran, for the 2025 Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League (CPL) tournament.
Pooran, at 29 years old, takes over the leadership from the previous captain, Kieron Pollard, who has been leading the team since 2019 and guided them to their most recent and record fourth title victory in 2020.
In accepting the lead role via a TKR media release announcing the development last Thursday, Pooran said, “It means a lot, first and foremost, to represent Trinbago Knight Riders. It is a privilege that I’m getting the opportunity to lead this franchise. I want to give it my best shot, and hopefully make as many correct decisions as I can.”
Pooran will be following in the footsteps of former captains and personal friends Pollard, who is TKR’s most senior player, and former captain who is now TKR’s head coach Dwayne Bravo, who led the side from 2013 to 2019.
“For me, the most satisfying thing is that Pollard is still playing, Sunil (Narine) and Andre (Russell) are here too. That’s a lot of experience I can bank on. To lead them on the field—it means a lot to me,” said Pooran.
CEO of Knight Rider Sports, Venky Mysore, the umbrella company which owns TKR, said the choice of Pooran for the captaincy role was straightforward, “Nicholas will carry the leadership baton forward in a smooth transition from Kieron Pollard. Pooran understands our winning culture and the responsibility that comes with leading this franchise. As he teams up with Head Coach (Champion) Bravo, we are excited to see them teaming up for hopefully, another successful season for TKR.”
Pooran is one of the most sought-after players on the global T20 franchise scene and is no stranger to leadership as he currently captains the Mumbai Indians (MI) New York franchise in Major League Cricket (MLC) and also leads the Mumbai Indians (MI) Emirates in the International League T20 (ILT20) in the United Arab Emirates. He also captained the West Indies in limited-overs formats from May 2022 to November 2022.
The talented wicketkeeper-batter holds the record as the youngest player to debut in the CPL, making his first appearance for the then Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel in 2013 at the age of 17. He has gathered 2,447 runs from 114 CPL matches while representing three teams. He played for the Barbados Royals in 2016 and the Guyana Amazon Warriors from 2019 to 2021 before rejoining the T&T franchise in 2022.
Incoming head coach Dwayne Bravo who retired from cricket during last year’s CPL said it is not unlike the TKR franchise to make bold leadership decisions, and the appointment of Pooran follows that trend.
“Once I felt I had achieved enough as the captain of Red Steel (2013, 2014) and TKR (2015 to 2019), I wanted to see who was the next best person to take over, to make sure that the legacy continues and the franchise remains in safe hands. At that time, Pollard was the best person for that role. In that same way, we are now transitioning to Pooran, who is someone who has been playing and learning a lot about cricket from us as players. He’s the right choice, and this is the right time.”
