West Indies' failure to qualify for the T20 World Cup 2022 has weighed heavily on skipper Nicholas Pooran who has decided to relinquish the team's white-ball captaincy on Monday. Cricket West Indies confirmed the development on their Twitter handle, with Rovman Powell likely to take over the top job.
"I have given the captaincy a great deal of thought since the enormous disappointment of the T20 World Cup 2022," said Pooran after stepping down.
Two-time T20 World Cup winners West Indies crashed out of the 2022 edition in Australia in the first round, losing to Scotland and Ireland and thus finishing last in the four-team group. Zimbabwe and Ireland qualified for the Super 12 from this group.
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Pooran said he decided to quit to give Cricket West Indies enough time to conduct a review into the debacle and have plenty of time to prepare for the next series of matches against South Africa.
"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," Pooran was quoted as saying in a release by Cricket West Indies.
Pooran led West Indies in 17 One-day Internationals (ODIs) and 23 T20Is, recording series wins against the Netherlands (ODI 3-0) and Bangladesh (T20I 2-0).
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"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."
Recently, Pooran was also released by Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 auction, despite being one of the most expensive picks last year, after being bought for a massive price tag of 10.75 Cr in IPL 2022 mega auction.
With inputs from IANS
