West Indies current coach and two-time World Cup winning captain Darren Sammy finally shared his thoughts on Nicholas Pooran’s sudden retirement from international cricket. Pooran recently announced his retirement at the age of 32, taking the cricketing world by a storm. Notably, West Indies cricket has been struggling to keep their players motivated to play for their nation rather than other T20 leagues, and this single decision by players of such stature could end up making things worse. Darren believes that Pooran was just the tip of the iceberg and what will follow is other calypso stars going that route.
Sammy didn’t blame the hard hitting batter or the others he predicted will follow his footsteps. He instead opined that the current times of T20 cricket leagues across the world is the reason for this debacle.
“I’m pretty sure more will follow in that mode, in that direction. That’s the way T20 cricket is now, and especially coming from the West Indies, with the challenges that we face trying to keep our players motivated to play for the crest, so I wouldn’t be surprised,” Sammy said as qouted by The Gleaner.
Sammy, Unsurprised By The Move
Unlike the world, Sammy had a clear indication that Pooran could pull off something like this from his hat despite having a good international run. Nicholas has been a part of different T20 leagues. From Major League Cricket, ILT20, SA20 to IPL, the smashing batter is an integral part of different franchises across the globe. According to Sammy, he inquired Pooran about his availability for the tour to the UK and his answer was a clear hint of the times to come.
“Ideally, a talent like that, I would love to have him in the team, but I don’t control nor could I control anybody’s careers. I wished him well, he wished the team well,” Sammy added.
West Indies is currently playing a three match T20I series against Ireland with two matches left to play. The first match was a washout without a ball being bowled. Before the series, West Indies lost the 3-match T20I series against England by 3-0 at English soil. Considering the current changing times , Andre Russell turning up to play for the team in one of the three games is a big plus for the unit. Eight teams including hosts England, Australia, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, West Indies and the defending champions New Zealand have already qualified for the T20 World Cup 2026 scheduled in India.
