Nicholas Pooran believes having to go through a qualifying series to reach the main draw of the Twenty20 World Cup could prove a “blessing in disguise” for the West Indies.
The Caribbean side produced a shocking campaign at last year’s T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates to miss the second round and now find themselves facing a tricky eight-team qualifier – divided into two groups – starting on Sunday.
West Indies are installed in Group B alongside the dangerous Scotland, Ireland, and Zimbabwe, with the top two teams in each group, advancing.
“In all fairness, these guys represent the West Indies, and it’s only fair that we start at the bottom,” Pooran said while speaking as all 16 captains gathered for a pre-tournament media event Saturday.
“I think we have the toughest way to the World Cup, and the guys understand that. I keep telling these guys 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.”
West Indies open against the Scots at Bellerive Oval in Hobart on Monday and follow up with another test against Zimbabwe on Wednesday. They close out with a clash against Ireland on Friday.
Unfortunately, they head into the qualifiers on the heels of three successive series losses in the last four months and eight defeats in their last ten T20 Internationals.
And their build-up over the last week was also less than stellar, beating United Arab Emirates by 17 runs in their opening official warm-up and then having their second game against the Netherlands rained out without a ball bowled.
Pooran said it was critical his side managed the pressure associated with qualifying for the October 22 to November 6 showpiece.
“To be honest, I don’t feel like there’s a lot of pressure. Honestly, we believe that we are a new group of guys, yes, we are new when it comes to T20 cricket,” he pointed out.
“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.”
CMC
