For Nicholas Pooran, stepping away from international cricket at 29 was not about turning his back on West Indies cricket but about continuing a personal journey towards becoming \u201cthe best version of myself\u201d.<\/p>\n
Speaking on the Beard Before Wicket podcast\u2014a popular cricket podcast hosted by England cricketers Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid, alongside host Nubaid Haroon\u2014 the T&T left-hander, who retired from international duty in June, explained that his decision was never about rebellion but rather the realisation and understanding that time, health, and opportunity are never guaranteed in professional sport.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of the day, I\u2019m still doing what I love the most, which is playing cricket,\u201d Pooran said. \u201cI\u2019m still getting the opportunity to play cricket all over the world and I\u2019m still getting that chance to be the best version of myself. I still feel I haven\u2019t reached that stage where I\u2019m the best version of myself yet,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Pooran acknowledged his career never followed a straight line. From a debut based on \u201cpotential\u201d, to being dropped, banned, injured and doubted, he said his early years forced him to grow up fast and taught him quickly that readiness and reality are often very different things.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt like I was ready but really and truly, I wasn\u2019t,\u201d he said of his first taste of international cricket. Dropped soon after, Ali, Rashid and Haroon felt it was a harsh introduction for a youngster to which Pooran quipped, \u201cbut that is West Indies cricket\u201d.<\/p>\n
He went back to domestic cricket to prove himself again and Pooran said those experiences hardened him and reshaped his outlook.<\/p>\n
Central to that transformation was a controversial decision in 2016 to play in the Bangladesh Premier League domestic T20 competition\u2014a move that led to sanctions but ultimately became, in his words, \u201cthe best decision I have made in my entire career\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was the first step in me understanding as an adult, when you make decisions, there\u2019s consequences,\u201d he said. \u201cI feel like something had to happen. And that just opened my eyes at the right age.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pooran also rejected the notion that franchise cricket was simply about money, arguing it offers West Indian players exposure to professionalism rarely available at home. \u201cPeople think you\u2019re going to make money. That\u2019s not only the reason,\u201d he maintained.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the opportunity to understand what professionalism looks like. We don\u2019t get that opportunity in the Caribbean. We get that when we go to the IPL and other leagues in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
That \u201cprofessional education\u201d, he said, helped him shed the common label associated with West Indian batters of being powerful, unpredictable and unreliable.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just never wanted to be that person,\u201d Pooran said. \u201cI was so inconsistent when I was younger\u2026 playing the wrong shots at the wrong time, costing the team the game. And that use to kill me.\u201d<\/p>\n
He credits much of his growth to guidance from Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo, whom he described as the \u201cdictionaries of T20 cricket\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no Nicholas Pooran without these guys when it comes to batsmanship,\u201d he said. \u201cThey don\u2019t give you days off. You underperform, they\u2019re letting you know.\u201d<\/p>\n
That same blunt honesty, Pooran said, helped him navigate the brutal realities of the IPL\u2014releases, auctions, price tags and pressure\u2014before finally finding consistency with Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). \u201cI went through that struggle, that inconsistency of understanding franchise cricket,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s why I don\u2019t take it for granted.\u201d<\/p>\n
When news of his international retirement broke, reaction was swift and emotional and condemning from some quarters. But Pooran said he understood the disappointment and maintained that the decision had nothing to do with the state of West Indies cricket which at the time was going through some changes with the captaincy of the limited overs team.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis has nothing to do with West Indies cricket, how it is, what it is, what\u2019s happening,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is all about what Nicholas Pooran wants\u2026I\u2019m doing what\u2019s best for myself and for my family.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also challenged the suggestion that retirement should only come in the mid-30s after players have given their all to their respective national teams. \u201cIf I wake up tomorrow and get injured and my career finishes, is that young?\u201d he asked. \u201cTime is not guaranteed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course you\u2019re going to miss representing your country, but we know as players, you can\u2019t do it forever. I don\u2019t know what the future holds for me but I know what I need to do now. I\u2019m living in the present because I\u2019m a person who knows, who has been through the struggle of not knowing what\u2019s going to happen tomorrow or what life holds for you tomorrow,\u201d he related.<\/p>\n
Pooran, who turned 30 in October, also dismissed the notion of not being committed to West Indies cricket. He played 61 ODIs for West Indies and 106 T20Is scoring 1,983 and 2,275 runs, respectively.<\/p>\n
\u201cI actually committed myself to West Indies cricket. I\u2019ve tried to give my all for West Indies. I was West Indies captain as well. I felt like that didn\u2019t work out for me and for my game and for the teammates. I gave it all up after six months,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
For Pooran, the defining motivation remains growth rather than power or status. \u201cI\u2019m not searching power,\u201d he said. \u201cAll I\u2019m searching for is how do I become a better version of myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve worked extremely hard to be in this position I am in today\u2026I came from nothing and if you know where Trinidad and Tobago is, it\u2019s a dot on the world, so I feel like it\u2019s so difficult for us to be successful from there,\u201d Pooran stressed.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo when I look back at not only my career but all the other guys for what they have accomplished in this game, for me personally, I would never take it for granted knowing where we come from and the opportunities we had,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
And while his international chapter is closed for now, Pooran believes his cricketing journey is far from complete.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For Nicholas Pooran, stepping away from international cricket at 29 was not about turning his back on West…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":346098,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[1721,101,56,54,55,71],"class_list":{"0":"post-346097","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cricket","8":"tag-cricket","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom","13":"tag-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=346097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346097\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/346098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}