I want to talk the talk and walk the walk: Pooran

Ahead of his first assignment as West Indies' new white-ball captain, Nicholas Pooran said he will be an ”instinctive” leader and wants to “talk the talk and walk the walk”. The Men in Marron are scheduled to play three One-Day Internationals against the Netherlands in Amsterdam starting on Tuesday (May 31). 

The left-handed dasher has led West Indies in two ODIs and eight T20 Internationals and also has the experience of captaining Guyana Amazon Warriors in the Caribbean Premier League. The 26-year-old was appointed as West Indies’ full-time white-ball skipper after Kieron Pollard announced his retirement from international cricket last month.

"I'll try my best to lead from the front. I want to talk the talk and walk the walk. I'm very instinctive. On the field, I like to make decisions on how I feel. My team-mates know I'm very instinctive when I'm batting as well. As a captain, I want to approach it in the same way. I want to live in the present, try to be the best version of myself, try to be the best leader I can be. It's as simple as that,” said Pooran.

West Indies will be without the likes of Jason Holder, Shimron Hetmyer and Evin Lewis, who all featured in the recently-concluded Indian Premier League 2022. Pooran said this series will serve as a good opportunity for some of the young players and also refused to downplay the importance of the series, considering the Netherlands will only have only one of their county-contracted players available.

"I wouldn't say there's a right time. We want to win games, it doesn't matter who the opposition is. We're not looking at it like that. The time is now and that's all we need to focus on," said the wicketkeeper-batter, who was in impressive form for Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2022.

"Everyone deserves an opportunity at some point in their career and it's really good that the younger players are getting an opportunity now. It's a good opportunity for them to showcase their talent and try to grab a spot in the team. It has been good. I think a lot of guys are happy in terms of it being free here and Amsterdam is a beautiful place. We're looking forward to the opportunity to play some cricket and feed off each other."

Talking about Sunil Narine's availability for the T20 World Cup later this year in Australia, Pooran said: “What Sunil wants, I'm in no control of that. But that's a conversation between him and the selectors - what his aspirations are when it comes to West Indies cricket.

"The end goal is to win cricket games and to win tournaments. But obviously, there is a process behind that. It's a new time for us. I believe that we have a lot of talented players with us here but we need to really work hard and come up with the goods."