The next athlete in our Unveiling Series needs no real introduction. For the past few years, Nicholas Pooran has cemented himself as one of the best batsmen in limited-overs cricket in the world and more recently as a leader of men. The newly signed Sunrisers Hyperbad player took some time to have a chat with Unveil Plus and answer some of our questions.

At what age did you realise your love for cricket?

“As a youngster growing up all I was thinking about was cricket. If I had to say at what age I started to see cricket as a profession, I’ll say around 13-14, when I made T&T’s National U-15 team. That’s when I realised that I had something special in me to become an international cricketer.”

What is your biggest motivation in playing the sport?

“For me I want to be the best in the world at my craft (batsman). This is what wakes me up every morning to go and play this game. I really love doing well and love being able to put smiles on people’s faces.”

Who would you say is your biggest supporter?

“My biggest supporters are my parents and my wife. My parents helped me make that decision from a very young age to follow my dreams (pursuing cricket). My parents and my wife have supported me tremendously and I am very thankful for that.”

What has been your most memorable moment thus far?

“I think I will always cherish my West Indies U-19 century, Dubai stadium in the quarterfinals of the (ICC) World Cup (143 vs Australia). That was one of the most special moments of my career and it will always remain with me.”

What would you say is your biggest strength?

“My biggest strength is definitely giving 100%, whether it’s on or off the field. I love to help others, I love to share, I love to talk cricket and I really love to see people do well. At the end of the day, I know that hard work always prevails. It’s just about persisting and not giving up, so I want to be able to share my knowledge for people to become a better version of themselves.”

What would you say is your biggest weakness and what are you doing to work on it?

“Well as a batsman I’ve just started to understand what my biggest weakness is and that’s when I tend to complicate things (while batting). I have acknowledged it and my teammates have acknowledged it as well and for the last 5 months I’ve been really working on it, trying to stay present for as long as possible. Especially when things are going my way. I’m trying to not over-complicate things and stay in the moments for as long as possible. So far it has been working out and I’m just trying to keep it as simple as possible.”

Do you enjoy playing or watching any sport outside of Cricket?

“I’m a big NBA fan. I like basketball so I try to watch as much basketball as possible. That is professionalism! To see guys that tall jumping as high as they could and landing on their legs, pushing their bodies to their limits. It shows that level of professionalism with how players need to actually take care of their bodies to play that sport.”

Toughest opponent you have ever faced?

“International cricket, toughest bowler to face, for me, is (Jasprit) Bumrah. Because of his action and his run up it’s always tough to expect the pace of the delivery and he has a really good slow ball also. Sunil Narine is also one of the toughest bowlers to face because he’s so consistent. In terms of international teams, I always feel like India is a hard team to get past because they play together so well and they’re so passionate about winning. They give 100% every time they go on a field, whether they have a small total or not. At this time, I think they’re the best team in the world throughout all 3 formats. When it comes to CPL, TKR (Trinbago Knight Riders) was good but I had a lot of success over them so I cannot say they were tough for me. I don’t know if I could say there was a tough team in CPL to be honest. Guyana was just very unlucky when it came down to the last games. In IPL, Chennai Super Kings is always a tough team to play against. They are very experienced and so calm under pressure. They know how to execute their game plans.”

What are your hobbies?

“When I’m home I try to play some tennis. I play a lot of FIFA and NBA (video games) and a little table tennis sometimes. Other than that, I just spend some quality time with the wifey or just training.”

How has the pandemic affected you? 

“Due to bubble life, at the beginning it was really difficult because in every country you go to there is a different quarantine method. When you leave your quarantine, you can now go to your teammate’s rooms, you can go down for breakfast or lunch in the restaurant or to practice so then that bubble is fine. But as soon as you start to fail you struggle more mentally and that’s where a lot of players have felt it. Before covid when you’re finished in a tournament, you go home, get a couple of days and then back into another tournament. Because of the quarantine period you go from a bubble, into a quarantine period, then it’s a bubble again. You only understand how difficult it is when you’re actually in it. It’s almost like you’re in a jail just with a decent bed. Sometimes it be like that.”

What does your daily routine look like?

“Well now we operate in bubbles, so I’ll wake up in the morning, get breakfast, hit the gym, take a shower, go to practice for as long as possible before I go back to the hotel to freshen up. I’ll relax a little bit or watch some Netflix then I usually head to my teammate’s room to play (video) games for as long as possible and later I go to bed and hope for a decent sleep to get up and repeat the next morning.”

What is your favourite time of year?

“I love Christmas! I love parang, Christmas food, drinks, I look forward to spending that time home. Christmas time just makes me feel like I want to be home. I missed Christmas the year before while I was in Australia, and I told myself that if I had the opportunity again, I wouldn’t miss it. Then last year I got to spend Christmas at home. I got about 6 days home and got both Christmas at new year’s. It felt so good! I’m looking forward to spending Christmas at home this year again.

Tell us something about yourself that not many people would know about you?

“My happiness is seeing other people do well, especially when they work hard for it. A lot of people do not know this because they do not know Nicholas Pooran. I just love to see people do good, no matter who they are.”

How would you describe your journey to becoming one of the best players in the world?

“It definitely did not come overnight. I had a very strange story after my accident (in 2015) and thankfully I got the opportunity to travel the world and gained a lot of experience. I started to play T-20 cricket since I was 17 and after the accident, I was banned from West Indies cricket, but I got the opportunity to go outside (of the region) and play cricket, learning from a lot of different players. That type of experience, you can’t pay for that, and I am very thankful for it. I always believe that everything happens for a reason, and I never really looked back. There were times I was very inconsistent as a batsman and left a lot of people frustrated but that was just part of my journey. I’m 26 now and I’ve had 7-8 years of learning different aspects of the game. I’ve worked extremely hard, day and night. I’ve spent long hours in the nets just to have a chance to become one of the best players. Anywhere I go in the world I try my best to have a conversation with the best players in the league and that has helped me. I am a student of the game and I try my best to learn the game inside and out.”

Who would you say was your favourite cricketer growing up and why? 

“Definitely the Prince of Port-of-Spain (Brian Charles Lara). If you’re a youngster and Brian Lara is not one of your favourite cricketers, then something is definitely wrong. I looked at him quite a lot. He really inspired me. At one point in time, I tried to bat like him, but we knew no one can really bat like him. His records spoke for themselves and showed the kind of player he was and every cricketer dreams to be able to achieve the things he did.”

What is your pet peeve?

“I hate to lose a cricket game and players (teammates) are just laughing and yapping their mouths and making jokes after. I malfunction when I hear that! Especially when we needed to win a game and we just didn’t show up to the party and players just taking it as a joke and laughing…I’ll trip off!”

What is the best advice you have received and from whom?

“I have received a lot of advice throughout my career. One that stuck with me, I remember meeting Shah Rukh Khan in IPL. We were liming after a game, he didn’t know me, but we were just talking and said to me ‘If you want to be a star, be a star. Just make it happen.’ That really stuck with me and even when I’m going to speak to kids, I tell them that.”

Who your biggest role model?

“I don’t know if I have a role model, but my mentor is obviously (Keiron)Pollard. I like the person he is. He’s a man who loves to see other people do well. He’s very passionate about West Indies cricket and he has a lot of pride as well. After my accident, he gave me an opportunity (Pollard recommended Barbados Tridents to sign Pooran in the 2016 CPL season) and since then he has been mentoring me. Regardless of whether I was right or wrong, he has always tried to pull me up. I learned a lot of cricket from him as well, especially in the T-20 format of the game. We played a lot of cricket together and he saw my growth. He saw my willingness to grow and my willingness to be a leader as well and he helped to push for that (to become a West Indies captain) as well.”

Who are the best players you have played with in your career in each position?

• “Best batsman: AB de Villiers.”
• “Best bowler: Sunil Narine.”
• “Best wicketkeeper: Dinesh Ramdin”
• “Best Captain: Polly (Kieron Pollard) but honourable mention to Dwayne Bravo.”

How has your experience been as a young captain?

“It’s always a challenge to be honest. You don’t always know how individuals think. Some players may think I should be there (have the captaincy), some think I shouldn’t have gotten it but for me it was always about being a good human and just living good with everyone. My first experience I had to captain the team (West Indies) against Australia with Chris (Gayle), (Andre) Russell, Dwayne (Bravo). We won the series 4-1 and these guys really appreciated what I brought to the table in terms of my tactics, and I gained a lot of respect from that experience. The key, for me, is to always be willing to compromise and learn. This makes it easy for anyone to communicate with you.”

What is your favourite meal?

“Fried rice, potato salad, stew chicken.”

Messi or Ronaldo?

“Ronaldo”

CPL or IPL?

“IPL for sure!”

Dhalpuri or Buss-up-shot?

“That’s easy! Buss-up-shot”

How would you rate your bowling skills out of 10?

“Very good! If I had more control, I would definitely like to be a bowler because I like the challenge. Ask Akeal Hosein. I’ll give myself a 5.”

What advice would you give to a young upcoming athlete?

“Don’t Ever doubt yourself because dreams do come through. Just need to work hard for what you want but still have patience. A lot of people may think that their dream is unattainable, but I do not believe that. Once you have a strong mind, anything is possible.”