To assemble the strongest possible team for next month’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, Cricket West Indies (CWI) contacted Nicholas Pooran to determine his interest in returning.
Director of Cricket Miles Bascombe indicated the T20 star does not seem inclined to end his retirement for the tournament.
Pooran surprised many by announcing his international retirement last June and has since excelled in multiple T20 leagues worldwide.
As CWI prepares to announce its World Cup squad, Bascombe confirmed attempts to reach Pooran have so far been unsuccessful.
“What I can say is that we have made every effort to ensure that we can have the best players represent the West Indies…
“I could definitely say that we have probed. Pooran was quite aware that the World Cup was upcoming, and his decision to retire would have been with that knowledge,” Bascombe said.
“So, we probed, and we saw that he mentioned not too long ago that he was quite happy to stick to his decision, so I could say that we probed.”
Asked if CWI had enquired whether West Indies legends Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard, or Andre Russell were interested in being part of the team’s management unit for the World Cup, Bascombe said they had, but a packed schedule was one of the reasons they had been given for not being able to make such a commitment.
“We have put out feelers. We’ve asked questions about availability, etc., but as you can understand, the World Cup pretty much flows into the IPL [Indian Premier League], so anyone who would come on board as part of our team management would pretty much have to sacrifice a lot of time away.
“We’ve probed, and some of the feedback we’ve gotten is that it would mean that they would have to spend an extended time away…and if they go to the World Cup, it would mean that they would have to spend quite a lot of time away from home because they will be at the World Cup and then going to the IPL,” Bascombe explained.
Meanwhile, the 29-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman Nicholas Pooran has revealed he has no regrets about retiring from international cricket, insisting the decision was made in his best interests.
Since his debut for the West Indies in 2016, Pooran said he had given his all during his eight-year career.
