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WEST Indies stand-in T20 captain Nicholas Pooran said he will continue to believe in his inexperienced team playing against Pakistan in a three-match T20 series, saying the squad is the future that can propel the regional team to the next level.
Pakistan have an unassailable 2-0 lead over West Indies in the series after winning the first match by 63 runs on Monday and the second contest by nine runs on Tuesday. The third and final match bowls off at 9 am (TT time), on Thursday.
In the opening match, Pakistan posted 200/6 in 20 overs, before West Indies were dismissed for 137 in 19 overs.
West Indies were more competitive in the second T20. Batting first, Pakistan scored 172/8 in 20 overs and in response West Indies were all out for 163 in 20 overs.
On Wednesday, speaking to journalists on Zoom, Pooran said his team needs more time to settle down at the international level.
“I think we are doing very good as a young unit, improving day by day, learning on the job so that’s wonderful to see. Hopefully, other guys could get an opportunity as well, but for now our focus is just to get a win.”
Several seasoned campaigners are unavailable due to personal reasons, covid19 or injury.
The trio of Sheldon Cottrell, Kyle Mayers and Roston Chase all tested positive for covid19 and were ruled out of the series.
Some of the other players missing are regular captain Kieron Pollard (injury), Evin Lewis (personal reasons) and Andre Russell (personal reasons).
The missing players have opened the door for younger players to make a name for themselves.
Pooran highlighted a few of his teammates who are showing their ability in the series including Romario Shepherd, Odean Smith, Brandon King and Akeal Hosein.
“This is what we want and the attitude is excellent…very happy to see these guys putting up their hand. No one give us a chance coming here…but from the first game to the second game we saw a massive improvement. It is unfortunate that we did not get over the line last time, but we know why we did not get over the line. If we played this (second) game a couple months down the road we might be successful. Again, it is a learning process for us, it takes time to win.”
Pooran said the team is “trying to do the right things” to get favourable results.
West Indies will be in a transition period in the coming years as many of their core players are in their thirties. West Indies stalwart Dwayne Bravo also retired after the T20 World Cup and Chris Gayle, 42, is expected to sign out in early 2022.
Pooran said the West Indies team in Pakistan has the potential to lead West Indies in the future.
“I definitely believe in the talent in these guys here. I see that burning desire, I see that they want to learn, they want to win games. I have no doubt in my mind that this bunch of guys can take West Indies cricket to the next level.”
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