Who will lead West Indies as Nicholas Pooran steps down from captaincy?

In the aftermath of a disappointing T20 World Cup campaign, wicket-keeper batsman Nicholas Pooran has stepped down from the white-ball captaincy. In the T20 World Cup qualifiers, West Indies defeated Zimbabwe but lost to Ireland and Scotland and couldn’t make it to the Super 12s.

Before England lifted the 2nd T20 World Cup trophy, West Indies was the most successful T20 World Cup team having won the tournament twice.

Nicholas Pooran Captaincy

Last year Nicholas Pooran was the vice president of the team and was elevated to the captaincy when Kieron Pollard couldn’t play due to injury. In Pollard’s absence, Pooran led the West Indies to a 4-1 T20I series win against Australia.

Pooran was handed the white-ball captaincy after Kieron Pollard announced retirement from international cricket. After he took over captaincy, West Indies won 4 out of 15 T20Is and as many ODIs.

Pooran’s Worrisome Form

Nicholas Pooran has not been in good form lately. He scored 94 runs in the last 10 T20I innings and performed poorly in the T20 World Cup.

He has also been released by the IPL franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad who bought him for a huge amount of INR 10.75 crore in this year’s IPL mega auction in February.

Who will be the captain of West Indies after Nicholas Pooran?

The big question arises, who will lead the West Indies white-ball teams now? Technically the vice captain should be the first contender to become the captain of the side. Rovman Powell is currently the vice captain of the T20I team while Shai Hope is the deputy for the ODI team.

Rovman Powell is most likely to lead both the white-ball teams but we will wait for the official announcement from Cricket West Indies. They will also announce a new coach in the upcoming weeks.

What Nicholas Pooran said?

Announcing his decision to step down from captaincy on social media, Nicholas Pooran said, “By stepping down now as the West Indies white ball captain I believe it is in the best interests of the team and for me personally, as I need to concentrate on what I can deliver to the side as a player, I desperately want us to be successful and the most value I can give to the team is through fully focusing on the role of consistently scoring runs at crucial times.”