Nicholas Pooran has bounced back nicely from the disappointment of the 2022 ICC World Cup, leading Deccan Gladiators to the title following a 37-run victory over New York Strikers in the final of the Abu Dhabi T10 on Sunday.

In the day/night fixture, Captain Pooran scored a 23-ball 40 as Gladiators scored 128-4 from their 10 overs. Pooran’s incredible form with the bat continued in the final, hitting five fours and a six as he and David Weise put on 74 runs in 30 balls after the side reached 54-3 after five overs.

Akeal Hosein had the champions in early trouble after dismissing Suresh Raina and Tom Kohler-Cadmore for seven and 11, respectively, and Wahab Riaz dismissed Andre Russell for nine in the first five overs.

Weise was even more brutal on the New York Strikers smashing two fours and four sixes in his 43 runs that came from just 18 balls. Pollard dismissed Pooran off the last ball of the innings to finish with figures of 1-16 in the only over he bowled.

However, Hosein was the best of the bowlers with 2-16 from his two overs.

Chasing 129 for victory, New York Strikers slumped to 29-4 midway the fourth over and were never able to recover. They suffered another blow when Pollard was forced to retire hurt after scoring 23 from 15 balls.

Jordan Thompson remained unbeaten on 22 while Azam Kkan contributed 16 and was the only other batter in double figures as Strikers could only muster 91-5 from their allotment of overs.

Josh Little, who claimed the wickets of Mohammad Waseem for a duck and Rashid Khan for eight, had the remarkable figures of 2-4 from his two overs. Meanwhile, Mohammad Hasnain took 2-12.

Weise was named Player of the Match for his exciting cameo and taking two catches.

Pooran, who has had scores of 77*, 80, 34, 50 and 38 prior to Sunday's final, amassed 345 runs during the tournament and was named Player of the Series.

West Indies all-rounder Andre Russell smashed a 32-ball 63 to help the Deccan Gladiators beat the Morrisville Samp Army by eight wickets in Qualifier 2 and advance to the final of the Abu Dhabi T10 League in the UAE on Saturday.

The Samp Army posted 119-2 from their 10 overs after losing the toss. Captain Moeen Ali hit six fours and six sixes on his way to a top score of 78 not out off just 29 balls while South African David Miller ended not out on 16.

Russell, who opened the batting alongside Tom Kohler-Cadmore, then set the stage for a successful chase with seven fours and four sixes on his way to 63. Captain Nicholas Pooran then added the finishing touches with an unbeaten 38 off just 12 balls as the Gladiators reached 121-2 in 9.4 overs.

Earlier on Saturday, they defeated Team Abu Dhabi by five runs in the eliminator.

Their opponents in Sunday’s final will be Kieron Pollard’s New York Strikers who beat the Samp Army by four wickets in Qualifier 1.

Captain Nicholas Pooran and Tom Kohler-Cadmore combined to lead the Deccan Gladiators to a 10-wicket win over the Bangla Tigers in the Abu Dhabi T10 League at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.

The Tigers posted a respectable 108-7 from their 10 overs after winning the toss and batting first. Pakistani all-rounder Iftikhar Ahmed starred with a 21-ball 54 including three fours and five sixes against his countryman Mohammad Hasnain’s 2-12 from two overs and David Wiese’s 2-15, also from two overs.

Pooran ‘s Gladiators then absolutely sprinted to their target thanks to an unbeaten 109-run opening stand between himself and Englishman Tom Kohler-Cadmore.

The pair needed just 6.1 overs to reach their target as Pooran hammered an even 50, his third half-century so far, off just 16 balls including seven sixes. Kohler-Cadmore had the same score off 21 balls and hit five fours and four sixes.

The Gladiators now lead the eight-team table with eight points from six games.

Nicholas Pooran’s purple patch with the bat continued on Sunday as the Deccan Gladiators notched a close 18-run win over Delhi Gladiators in the Abu Dhabi T10.

Pooran, who came into the match with scores of 77 and 80, scored 34 from just 17 balls as Gladiators posted 140-2 from their 10 overs.

After losing Jason Roy for four in the first over, Pooran hit three fours and two sixes as he and opener Tom Kohler-Cadmore added 122 for the second wicket. Pooran was eventually dismissed in the ninth over by Waquas Maqsood, who took 1-21.

Meanwhile, Kohler-Cadmore blasted his way to an unbeaten 82 with eight fours and six sixes.

He and Andre Russell put on 12 in the final eight balls with the Jamaican scoring 10 that included a six over extra cover off Shimraz Ahmed, who conceded 11 in the over.

Imad Wasim had figures of 1-17.

Delhi Bulls made a good fist of it to score 122-4 from their 10 overs.

They owed their solid effort to a 24-ball 48 from Tim David and Rilee Rossouw, who scored 28 from 15. However, needing to score 14 an over proved too much for Delhi Bulls despite a gallant 14 not out from eight balls from Keemo Paul at the end.

David and Rossouw put on 79 for the third wicket after Tom Banton (12) and Rahkeem Cornwall (2) were back in the hutch in the third over with 26 runs on the board.

Russell got rid of the dangerous David in the ninth over effectively swinging the pendulum in Gladiators’ favour for the remaining 10 balls from which the Delhi Bulls could only muster 17 runs.

Russell’s two overs cost 26 runs but Josh Little proved much more effective with the wickets of Cornwall and Rossouw to return figures of 2-11.

Nicholas Pooran and Brandon King scored fifties while Carlos Brathwaite produced an excellent all-round display on day three of the Abu Dhabi T10 League in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Friday.

In the first game of Friday's triple-header, Nicholas Pooran carried on from his unbeaten 77 on the opening night and hit 80 off 32 deliveries to catapult Deccan Gladiators to 138 for 3 against the Northern Warriors- the highest score of the tournament so far. Pooran’s knock included 10 fours and three sixes.

Despite a half-century from Adam Lyth, the Warriors struggled to get close and finished 24 runs short. Rovman Powell's side remains without a win after two games.

The day’s second game between Brandon King’s Team Abu Dhabi and Dwayne Bravo’s Delhi Bulls ended in a tie.

After winning the toss, an unbeaten third-wicket 101-run stand between James Vince (26* off 20) and King (64* off 27) had earlier helped Abu Dhabi post 120 for 2.

The Bulls then reached 120-5 from their 10 overs in reply. Imad Wasim (21 not out) and Tim David (20) were the chief scorers while Keemo Paul also contributed a rapid 16 from seven balls.

The day’s third game saw Carlos Brathwaite help the Chennai Braves get on the board with a win over Bangla Tigers. 

His 44 not out off 19 balls saw them post 126 for 6 and with the ball, the West Indian picked up two wickets in two deliveries in his first over before returning in the last over to pick up two more and finish with figures of 4 for 3 as the Tigers stuttered to 93 and their second defeat in as many nights.

West Indies wicketkeeping great Jeffrey Dujon believes the decision taken by captain Nicholas Pooran to step down is the best one for the player at this point in time.

The 27-year-old, who took charge of the region’s white-ball teams earlier this year, made the surprise decision to step down as captain, after just 7 months on the job.

As captain of the team, Pooran had faced severe pressure following the team’s poor showing at the T20 World Cup.  The West Indies failed to advance from the first round of the competition, following losses to Scotland and Ireland.  The results led to the resignation of the team’s head coach Phil Simmons but having only just been appointed to the post, Pooran was widely expected to keep the position.

Dujon admitted to being surprised but believes the player has done the right thing given the circumstances.

“I think it’s a good thing for him.  As a young player, you have been given responsibility but things haven’t worked out for him,” Dujon told the Mason and Guest radio program.

“He still has a career ahead of him and shedding this responsibility might just help his cricket as time goes on,” he added.

Pooran captained the T20 team for 23 matches, winning 8 and losing 14 for a win ratio of 35 percent.

Cricket West Indies (CWI) confirmed today that Nicholas Pooran has decided to relinquish the white ball captaincy of the West Indies Men’s team following the team’s exit from the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 tournament just completed in Australia.

 “I have given the captaincy a great deal of thought since the enormous disappointment of the T20 World Cup," said Pooran. "I took on the role with great pride and dedication and have given it absolutely everything over the past year.

“The T20 World Cup is something that must not define us and I will readily get involved in the upcoming reviews. And whilst it will be several months until we reconvene as a squad, I want to give CWI plenty of time to prepare for the matches against South Africa in March and beyond.”

The Trinidadian middle-order batsman said relinquishing the captaincy is not an indicator that he was throwing in the towel.

 “This is not me giving up. I remain ambitious and still view the captaincy of West Indies cricket as an honour that is bestowed upon you. There is no doubt I remain fully committed to West Indies cricket and I look forward to providing my services as a senior player in a supportive role," he 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.

“I am very thankful to CWI for the opportunity and faith shown in me and for the support that I have received by our devoted fans since taking the role, and to my teammates who have worked so hard as well. I know we have it in us to carry West Indies cricket forward and be proud.”

CWI Director of Cricket, Jimmy Adams thanked Pooran for his time leading the two teams.

“On behalf of CWI I want to thank Nicholas for his time leading our white ball teams. Having spoken with him I know he remains fully committed to West Indies cricket and I am convinced he has a big role to play in our future,” Adams said.

Last year and earlier this year, Pooran led the West Indies in the absence of Kieron Pollard, enjoying a T20 International (T20I) Series win against Australia at home (4-1). He was officially appointed West Indies Men’s white ball captain in May this year when Pollard stepped down. Overall, Pooran led the team in 17 One Day Internationals (ODIs) and 23 T20Is, recording Series wins against the Netherlands (ODI 3-0) and Bangladesh (T20I 2-0).

The West Indies Men’s next white ball series is against South Africa in March 2023 (directly after the two Test Match Series) and consists of three ODIs and three T20Is.

A century from Nicholas Pooran and half-centuries from Amir Jangoo and Darren Bravo led Trinidad and Tobago Red Force to a thrilling 10-run victory over the Barbados Pride in the first semi-final of the GC Insurance Super50 at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium on Wednesday.

Pooran hit five fours and eight sixes in his 111 that came from just 82 balls and was instrumental in getting the Red Force to 312-6, the highest score in the competition this season.

Chasing 313 for victory, Barbados were restricted to 302-8 despite an incredibly valiant 130 not out from 79 balls by Roshon Primus, his highest List A score.

The Pride were in early trouble at 13-2 in the fourth over after Shannon Gabriel had Zachary McCaskie caught at slip for one before returning to bowl Kyle Hope for four. The Pride slipped into further trouble at 45-3 when Sunil Narine had Shai Hope caught behind for 24.

Johnathan Carter and Nicholas Kirton got Barbados back on track with a 63-run partnership that got them to 108 when Shannon Gabriel picked up his third wicket, having Carter caught at deep backward point by Jason Mohammed for 45.

Kirton did not last much longer.

Fourteen balls and 10 runs later, he was caught by Narine off the bowling of Yanick Cariah for 35 leaving Barbados sinking fast at 118-5, still 195 runs behind.

When Shamar Springer was trapped lbw by Imran Khan for five, all seemed lost for Barbados, who at this point were 146-6.

However, Roshon Primus and Akeem Jordan were not ready to give up. Together they put together a run-a-ball 93 runs for the seventh wicket before things unraveled for Barbados for the final time. Jordan was run out off the first ball of Gabriel's eighth over for 33. Gabriel then picked up his fourth wicket next ball when he bowled Jomel Warrican for a duck and suddenly Barbados, who were 239-6 had slipped to 239-8.

Primus continued to resist. Consecutive sixes and a boundary in the 45th over bowled by Terrance Hinds brought Primus his maiden List A century from just 61 balls.

With 17 needed from the final over being bowled by Shannon Gabriel, Primus hit the first ball for four but three dot balls followed, meaning Barbados needed 13 from two deliveries. Primus took two from the fifth and the match was over. Primus' unbeaten knock included 10 fours and nine sixes and with Camarie Boyce (13 not), he put on 63 for the ninth wicket but it was simply not enough.

Shannon Gabriel was the best of the Red Force bowlers finishing with 4-43.

 Batting first, T&T Red Force were in early trouble losing two wickets inside three overs after Akeem Jordan dismissed Kjorn Ottley for one and Jason Mohammed for a duck with consecutive deliveries. The early dismissals brought Jangoo and Bravo together and they put on 92 for the third wicket before Bravo was caught at fine leg by Jomel Warrican off the bowling of Springer for 54 in the 24^th over.

His dismissal brought Pooran to the crease and he immediately went after the bowling playing some injudicious shots and was fortunate not be dismissed early on. However, as he settled into his innings, he pummeled the bowling racing to 50 in just 41 balls. He put on 147 with Jangoo before the latter was caught by Jordan off Springer for 81 in the 44^th over. Pooran was eventually dismissed in the 46^th trying to hit Springer for six.

With the score 256-5, 300 looked on the cards and the Red Force duly obliged thanks to a sparkling cameo from Akeal Hosein who smashed 42 from just 20 deliveries. He hit three fours and three sixes in a 53-run sixth-wicket stand with Terrance Hinds before he was caught by Jordan off Springer in the final over.

Hinds was not out on nine and Sunil Narine on two at the end.

Springer finished with 4-64 from nine overs while Jordan returned figures of 2-31 from his allotment of 10 overs.

West Indies ODI and T20I captain Nicholas Pooran and former West Indies captains Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard were among several West Indians to be released by their Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises on Tuesday’s deadline day to retain and release players.

While Pooran, Pollard, who announced his IPL retirement earlier on Tuesday, and Super Kings' Dwayne Bravo were the most high-profile West Indians not retained, there were several other younger players from the Caribbean who were released by their teams.

Along with Pooran, Sunrisers Hyderabad let go of Romario Shepherd, Lucknow Super Giants released Jason Holder and Evin Lewis, Mumbai released Fabian Allen, Royal Challengers Bangalore let go of Sherfane Rutherford, Punjab released Odean Smith and Gujarat Titans did not retain Dominic Drakes.

On the flip side, several West Indians were retained by their franchises.

Obed McCoy and Shimron Hetmyer were retained by the Rajasthan Royals, Alzarri Joseph was retained by defending champions the Gujarat Titans, Andre Russell and Sunil Narine will once again suit up for the Kolkata Knight Riders, Kyle Mayers was retained by Lucknow Super Giants and Rovman Powell was retained by the Delhi Capitals.

The released players will get their chance to be snapped up by another franchise at the IPL player auction which will be held on December 23 in Kochi.

Nicholas Pooran just missed out on a century but helped Trinidad and Tobago Red Force defeat Windward Islands Volcanoes by seven wickets with six balls to spare at Tarouba on Saturday. The win means the Red Force have advanced to the semi-finals of the CG Insurance Super 50 competition.

In match reduced by rain to 40 overs, Pooran scored an unbeaten 99 and Darren Bravo 67 not out sharing in an unbeaten fourth-wicket partnership of 155 as TT Red Force cruised to 249-3 (D/L). The West Indies white-ball captain scored his runs from just 71 balls and hit 11 fours and two sixes along the way. Bravo hit nine fours in his 63-ball knock.

Opener Kjorn Ottley made 43 for the Trinidad franchise while partnering in a 49-run second-wicket stand with Jason Mohammed, who made 25. Ottley was eventually dismissed after putting on 13 for the third partnership of 13 with Bravo, who would find a match-winning partner in Pooran.

Justin Greaves was the best of the Windward bowlers with 2-55. Preston McSween took 1-57.

Earlier, the Windwards recovered from a precarious 36-4 in the seventh over after Akeal Hosein 2-37 and Shannon Gabriel 1-36 did the early damage.

The owed their recovery to an unbeaten knocks of 90 from Sunil Ambris and 68 from Andre Fletcher, who shared in an unbroken fourth-wicket stand of 165 that took the team to 201-4 from their 40 overs.

Unfortunately, thanks to Pooran and company it proved not to be enough.

West Indies' white-ball captain Nicholas Pooran will use the hurt of his team's first-round exit at the T20 World Cup as "motivation" to bounce back strongly.

The Windies failed to make it to the ongoing T20 World Cup main tournament for the first time after suffering defeats against Scotland and Ireland last week.

"Obviously, we don't know what the future holds but we will take it day by day," Pooran said ahead of the Super50 Cup, West Indies' regional one-day tournament, where he is set to lead Trinidad & Tobago.

"Again, it was a learning experience for all of us and this is our journey and our story. Time will tell what will happen but for now it is just about focusing on ourselves and how we can get better as individuals.”

The reaction to West Indies' early exit was sharp and swift, with CWI president Ricky Skerritt blaming the batters and promising that a "thorough post mortem" would be carried out. Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting was also critical of West Indies' performances, calling their first-round exit a "disgrace". Phil Simmons, meanwhile, has resigned as head coach, with his last assignment set to be a two-Test series in Australia, which starts next month.

Pooran also suggested that he would not step down as captain, but look to learn from these setbacks.

"I have been thinking about the last couple of months...Playing cricket is my dream and obviously I have had my test in life as well and this is another test for me," he said.

"I am a person that embraces challenges and this was just another one for me. It is not going to stop me. I am going to continue to learn from my experiences and again I am happy I can wake up in the morning and see that I have an opportunity to play cricket again."

Pooran's immediate focus will be to help Trinidad & Tobago defend their Super50 title, with the tournament scheduled to begin on Saturday.

West Indies T20 captain Nicholas Pooran believes a bitterly disappointing end to the ICC Men's T20 World Cup should serve as a learning experience for the team.

On Friday, a dominant half-century from veteran opener Paul Stirling put an end to the campaign of the Caribbean team, in the first round of the tournament.  Stirling’s 66 from 48 deliveries led the Irish to a resounding 9-wicket win with 15 balls remaining and a spot in the Super-12.

The result confirmed a far fall for the West Indies, the two-time champions of the event lost two of three matches to teams who came through the qualification phase.  Once again, the Windies struggled with the bat on what looked like a fair surface, limping to 146 for 5 in their 20 overs, before Ireland easily moved down the total, with a little application, proving there were no demons in the pitch.

"It’s obviously a learning experience.  We have disappointed our fans back home and most importantly disappointed ourselves,” Pooran said following the match.

“It’s definitely hurting.  I definitely disappointed the guys in how I performed as well but we live to see another day,” he added.

In continuation of a general theme in the format this year, the team continued to find runs at the crease hard to come by and were well bogged down by the Ireland strategy.  Brandon King ended the innings unbeaten for the West Indies on 62 from 48.

“We haven’t batted well in this tournament at all.  On a really good batting surface coming out here and making 145 it was always difficult to ask the bowlers to defend that on this track.”

Nicholas Pooran joined the other captains on Saturday to launch the Big Show and the stage is now set for the marquee cricket event of the year. West Indies skipper was among the 16 men in charge as they made history, coming together Melbourne, Australia – one of the world’s iconic sporting cities. This was the first time all captains came together at an ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.

The Captains’ Day marks the start of the eighth edition of the event that promises to keep more than a billion cricket fans across the globe on the edge of their seats from start to finish. Pooran is charged with leading the West Indies as they go in search of an unprecedented third title. Daren Sammy was at the helm in 2012 and 2016 when the West Indies lifted the trophy – making them the only team to win the coveted title twice – a rich legacy.

Pooran told the audience: “To be honest, I don’t feel like there’s a lot of pressure … we believe that we are a new group of guys, yes, we are new when it comes to T20 cricket. We start at the bottom … think we have the toughest way to the World Cup, and the guys understand that. I keep telling them it may be a blessing in disguise for us to start in the qualifiers first. Obviously everyone knows when you want something you have to work really hard for it.” He added: “But yes, we want to qualify, and obviously there's some pressure, as well, but the guys are not thinking about that. We just want to focus on ourselves and try to play the best cricket we can.”

The big event gets underway on Sunday at 3pm local time when Sri Lanka face Namibia at Kardinia Park Stadium in Geelong in Group A. It will be followed by the United Arab Emirates against the Netherlands at 7pm local time. This marks the first of 45 matches over 28 days with the champions to be crowned at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 13 November.

West Indies will bowl off their campaign on Monday against Ireland at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart. First ball is 3pm local time (12 midnight Eastern Caribbean/11pm Jamaica). The two teams are in Group B alongside Zimbabwe and Scotland. The two top teams in the preliminary round will advance to the Super12s stage of the event.

Brandon King scored a half-century and Raymon Reifer claimed three wickets as the West Indies won their warm-up match against the United Arab Emirates at Junction Stadium by 17 runs on Sunday night.

It was not an easy win for the Caribbean men who would have suffered jitters when medium pacer Junaid Siddique took career-best figures of 5-13 to restrict West Indies to 152-9 from their 20 overs.

The West Indies owed their eventual match-winning score to a 95-run fourth wicket partnership between King and Captain Nicholas Pooran that spared the Caribbean men blushes after UAE won the toss and decided to bowl.

It seemed the right decision as the West Indies were struggling at 22-3 inside the Powerplay.

The dismissal of Evin Lewis (2), Johnson Charles (1) and Sharmarh Brooks (4) brought King and Pooran together in the fifth over and together they dragged the West Indies into a position of relative strength.

The West Indies captain hit five fours in his 31-ball 46 before he was bowled by Zahoor Khan, who had earlier dismissed Brooks. It was then 117-4 in the 15^th over.

The loss of Pooran’s wicket saw the West Indies slip to 122-7 as Siddique, who had earlier removed Charles, scythed through the middle order with three wickets in four balls claiming Reifer for one, King for 64 and Akeal Hosein without scoring.

King's runs came from 45 balls and included seven fours and two sixes.

Siddique picked up his fifth wicket in the 18^th over when he bowled Odean Smith for five.

Alzarri Joseph helped the West Indies past 150 with 15 well-needed runs from 11 balls before being the last man out, leaving Rovman Powell unbeaten on seven and Obed McCoy on four at the end.

Khan ended with 2-24.

Needing 153 for victory, UAE were 19-1 at the end of three when McCoy dismissed Chirag Suri for nine.

Muhammad Waseem and Vriityia Avarind took the score to 50 in the eighth when Reifer dismissed the latter for nine and CP Rizwan for one in the space of four balls as UAE slipped to 52-3 in the ninth.

The UAE ran into further trouble three balls later when Evin Lewis ran out Aayan Afzal Khan for a duck.

Waseem and Basil Hameed inched the score along to 66 by the 13^th over when Reifer claimed his third after dismissing Hameed for five. It was soon 82 for 6 in the 16^th when Odean Smith dismissed Kashif Daud for seven.

With nothing to lose UAE went for broke smashing 53 from the final 26 balls.

Waseem brought up his 50 with a six from the last ball of the 17^th over bowled by McCoy that yielded 16 runs. The pair also took 15 from the 19^th bowled by Alzarri Joseph, whose last ball was smashed for six by Zawar Farid, who ended unbeaten on 29 from the 14 balls he faced.

Waseem’s heroic unbeaten 69 came from 52 balls and included four fours and three sixes as UAE closed on 135-6.

Reifer took 3-13 while Odean Smith had figures of 1-20 from his four overs. McCoy gave up 49 runs from his four overs.