Nicholas Pooran’s biggest problem is Nicholas Pooran himself!

Nicholas Pooran’s got a problem. And he’s got to find a way to solve that before he becomes another in the long list of West Indies captains that just couldn’t get the job done.

And it’s that he’s himself. Whether he’s the batsman in charge of repairing an injured scorecard that’s going nowhere. And whether he’s the captain of a team that’s up against defending something like a 180-odd total in a T20 with the opponents 95 for 1 in 10 overs.

Pooran’s bold and beautiful. He makes batting look ridiculously easy. He’ll hit strokes all around the wicket. Often he’ll get on with the job from ball one.

And maybe that’s the real deal. That when he should wait before cutting loose, he’s already engaged in self destruction and is walking back to the dugout.

The Nicholas Pooran that looks good to the world is what we saw in the final white-ball contest against New Zealand; his 91 came out of nowhere really and took just 55 deliveries.

That was magic.

But the Nicholas Pooran that the West Indies need is one that should bat deep and hold his nerve.

Yes, we are in that age where cricket’s best played bang-bang. Agreed, we are in that era where Cricket’s fast becoming a part of some entertainment show where sporting quotient takes a backseat in front of “what’s in it for tonight’s matinee” program.

But, hell, this is a sport. Before the Netflix age arrived. And shall remain one even after the final ever app is downloaded on your good-looking smartphone.

Which is why it just makes sense that Pooran reverted to playing smart cricket instead of becoming Jason Statham with the bat.

Aggression and big strokes notwithstanding, there’s hardly been a patiently cultivated knock or at the most, back-to-back knocks that would offer more confidence in the abilities of the West Indian captain.

The Nicholas Pooran West Indies need especially amid a climate of unavailability of a Gayle, Narine, Russell and Carlos Brathwaite is the one that can do what Shai Hope is already doing.

Play anchor. If not, play the aggressor that doesn’t suffer from the dreadful habit of giving away his wicket. Nicholas Pooran’s biggest problem is he himslef.

Imagine the present day West Indies with Hope in charismatic touch, coupled with the ever-elegant Brooks and a more patient Nicholas Pooran?

Wouldn’t that be such a relief from the mindlessly concocted shows of suicidal batting in crunch situations?

While no one is suggestion Nicholas Pooran to change his approach to batting, there’s a lot that could be achieved by introducing small tinkering.

For instance, get the twos and threes. At least, do not be in an insatiably frustrated urge to hit the big shot to get off the mark.

The West Indies not a sign of urgency from their current white-ball captain but a sign of urgency to soak in the pressure their opponents subject them to.

Why one earth, for instance, hold out in the deep twice in Pakistan and as recently seen against India when he was looking set?

How come he found a way to get out to spin in each of the three one-dayers Windies played in The Netherlands and if the ignominy of being cheaply dismissed wasn’t enough, Pooran got out to the same spinner in every game?

In an era where everyone’s eating nuts and salad for great health, it was absolutely nuts seeing Pooran’s abject surrender versus spin in Orange country.

At times, one wonders whether this podcast listening, Kindle addicted current generation, obsessed with emojis and minimalism, one practicing Buddhist chanting instead of ever reading about the life of the Enlightened one, gets what the West Indies must do in order to return to their former glory days.

Maybe, they just need to do the basics right. Maybe they’d quite like to begin by not bowling too many extras. In the first two T20Is versus the Kiwis, Windies bowled 21 extras.

In the India one dayers, the Windies bowlers collected 42 extras. There were just three games.

West Indies ODI captain Nicholas Pooran said the performance of the WI team in the first T20I against India during August 2022 was the worst by WI.

Nicholas Pooran

Maybe, the team now wants to develop a game plan where the side bats around Pooran?

Moreover, maybe Pooran wants to revisit the Nicholas Pooran he was in the 2019 ODI world cup encounter against Sri Lanka.

Nicholas Pooran’s biggest problem is Nicholas Pooran himself!. For often it’s not in self-help books alone that we find all answers to life; sometimes what it takes to outdo one’s own self is god’s blessings and also, some self-introspection.