Ahead of the T20 World Cup 2026, which will start on February 7, Cricket West Indies contacted their former captain Nicholas Pooran about a possible return to international cricket.
West Indies Cricket asked Nicholas Pooran if he would return from retirement. Their Director of Cricket Miles Bascombe said Pooran is aware of the World Cup but is happy to stay retired, and the board respected his decision while still making contact.
“What I can say is that we have made every effort to ensure that we can have the best players represent the West Indies…,” Miles Bascombe said on WESN TV.
“I could definitely say that we have probed. Pooran was quite aware that the World Cup was upcoming, and his decision to retire would have been with that knowledge,” he added.
“So, we probed and we saw that he mentioned not too long ago that he was quite happy to stick to his decision, so I could say that we probed,” he concluded.
Nicholas Pooran retired from international cricket on June 10, 2025, at the age of 29. He ended his career with 1983 runs in 61 ODIs and 2275 runs in 106 T20Is. Although he retired from international cricket, he continues to play regularly in franchise leagues. His last appearance for West Indies was in December 2024, during a home T20I series against Bangladesh in Kingstown.
West Indies have not yet announced their squad for the T20 World Cup 2026. They recently named the squad for the upcoming T20I series against Afghanistan, which will there last assignment before the tournament.
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Since announcing his retirement, Nicholas Pooran has played in different T20 leagues such as Major League Cricket (MLC), Caribbean Premier League (CPL), International League T20 (ILT20), and SA20.
In the MLC, he represented MI New York and played 13 matches, scoring 360 runs at an average of 36.00 and a strike rate of 134.83, including a century and a fifty.
He played for Trinbago Knight Riders in the CPL, appearing in 13 matches and scoring 426 runs at an average of 42.60 with a strike rate of 133.12.
After that in the ILT20, he played for MI Emirates in nine matches, scoring 267 runs at an average of 44.50 and a strike rate of 117.62, including a fifty.
Now in the ongoing SA20 2026, he is playing for MI Cape Town. In seven innings, he has scored 133 runs at an average of 19.00 and a strike rate of 151.13. He has not been the same player as before, as his strike rate has dropped slightly since retirement.
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