Nicholas Pooran (; born 2 October 1995) was a Trinidadian

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er who represented the West Indies cricket team in limited overs formats till 2024 and served as the team's captain. He also competes domestically for

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...

and plays for the

Lucknow Super Giants The Lucknow Super Giants, also known as LSG, are a professional Twenty20 cricket team based in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The franchise is owned by Sanjiv Goenka of the RPSG Group. Ekana Cricket ...

in the

Indian Premier League The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a professional Twenty20 (T20) cricket league in India, organised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Founded in 2007, it features ten city-based Professional sports league organization, fr ...

(IPL). Pooran made his international debut for the West Indies in September 2016. In May 2022, he was appointed captain of the West Indies limited-overs team. He stepped down from the captaincy in November 2022. In June 2025, he announced his retirement from international cricket.

Domestic career

From

Couva Couva is a town in west-central Trinidad, south of Port of Spain and Chaguanas and north of San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago, San Fernando and Point Fortin. It is the capital and main urban centre of Couva–Tabaquite–Talparo, and the Greate ...

, Pooran attended

Naparima College Naparima College (informally known as Naps) is a public secondary school for boys in Trinidad and Tobago. Located in San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago, San Fernando, the school was founded in 1894 but received official recognition in 1900. It was ...

in San Fernando, and played for the school's cricket team. A left-handed

wicket-keeper In cricket, the wicket-keeper is the Cricket player, player on the fielding (cricket), fielding side who stands behind the wicket, ready to stop Delivery (cricket), deliveries that pass the batsman, and take a Caught, catch, Stumped, stump the ...

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the cricket ball, ball with a cricket bat, bat to score runs (cricket), runs and prevent the dismissal (cricket), loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since Septembe ...

, he represented Trinidad and Tobago at various underage and schoolboys tournaments, and made his national under-19 debut at the 2012 regional tournament, aged only 16.Miscellaneous matches pla, yed by Nicolas Pooran (34)
– CricketArchive. Retrieved 3 August 2014. Pooran debuted for the West Indies under-19s in October 2013, in a bilateral series against the Bangladesh under-19s, and went on to play at the 2014 Under-19 World Cup. The team's vice-captain and primary wicket-keeper, he scored 303 runs from six matches, ranking fourth for total runs and leading the West Indies' averages. This included half-centuries against

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and

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, and an innings of 143 runs against

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(from a team total of 208 all out), which was the highest score of the tournament and was subsequently described as "one of the most memorable innings under pressure in the tournament's history". Pooran's innings was the highest ever under-19 ODI score against Australia, and his 136-run ninth-wicket

partnership A partnership is an agreement where parties agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. The partners in a partnership may be individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments or combinations. Organizations ...

with Barbadian Jerome Jones was a record for all under-19 matches. Before playing at international under-19 level, Pooran had played four matches for Trinidad and Tobago in the domestic one-day

Regional Super50 The Super50 Cup, currently named the CG Insurance Super50 Cup for sponsorship purposes is the domestic one-day cricket competition in the West Indies cricket team, West Indies. It was previously known as the KFC Cup until the fast food chain p ...

competition, in February and March 2013. Prior to the inaugural 2013 CPL season, he was selected in the Red Steel squad, Trinidad's CPL franchise, at age 17 was the youngest player in the competition. On debut against the

Guyana Amazon Warriors The Guyana Amazon Warriors is a cricket team of the Caribbean Premier League based in Providence, Georgetown, Guyana. It represents Guyana in the league and was established in 2013 for the inaugural season. The team plays home games at Provi ...

, he scored 54 from 24 balls, an innings which included six sixes and was noted for its "clean, calm stroke play" and "uninhibited aggression". Pooran's batting was less successful for the remainder of the tournament, and also at the 2013 Champions League, where he represented the Trinidad and Tobago national side rather than the Red Steel franchise. He again played for the Red Steel during the 2014 CPL season, but is yet to score any further half-centuries. Pooran made his first-class debut for Trinidad and Tobago against the

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in November 2014, during the 2014–15 season of the

Regional Four Day Competition The Regional Four Day Competition, formerly known as the Shell Shield, Red Stripe, Busta and Carib Beer Cup, is the West Indies's first-class cricket competition that's run by Cricket West Indies. In the 2013–2014 season the winner of the t ...

. In his second match, against

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

, he top-scored with 55 runs in T&T's second innings, before being one of Nikita Miller's seven victims. At club level, Pooran plays for Clarke Road in the Trinidadian leagues. He also played part of the 2014 season in Ontario, representing the Redemption Sports Club in the Etobicoke & District Cricket League. In January 2015, Pooran was involved in a road accident in St. Mary's, Trinidad, sustaining ankle and knee injuries. He was ruled out for both the remainder of Trinidad and Tobago's domestic season and the 2015 Caribbean Premier League. In June 2018, he was named in the Cricket West Indies B Team for the inaugural edition of the

Global T20 Canada The Global T20 Canada is a professional Twenty20 cricket tournament that is played in Canada. The first edition of the tournament took place during June and July 2018 with six teams competing. Each team featured four local Canadian cricketers ...

tournament. In July 2020, he was named in the

squad for the

2020 Caribbean Premier League The 2020 Caribbean Premier League (CPLT20) or for sponsorship reasons, Hero CPL 2020 was the eighth season of the Caribbean Premier League, the domestic Twenty20 cricket league played in the West Indies. All matches were played in Trinidad and ...

(CPL). On 30 August 2020, in the CPL fixture against the

St Kitts & Nevis Patriots The St Kitts & Nevis Patriots are a Caribbean Premier League (CPL) cricket franchise based in Saint Kitts and Nevis that participated in the competition for the first time in 2015. The team plays its home games at Warner Park, Basseterre, locat ...

, Pooran scored his first century in a T20 match. Pooran was later appointed captain of the Trinidad and Tobago Red Force for the

2022–23 Super50 Cup The 2022–23 Super50 Cup was a cricket tournament; it was the 48th edition of the Super50 Cup, the domestic limited-overs cricket competition for the countries of the Cricket West Indies (CWI). The tournament took place in October and Novembe ...

. He steered the T&T Red Force to an eventual runners up spot against the Jamaica Scorpions in the final. Pooran was later named to the 2022 CG United Super50 Cup "Team of the Tournament."

T20 franchise career

In February 2017, he was bought by the

Mumbai Indians The Mumbai Indians are a professional Twenty20, Twenty20 cricket team based in Mumbai, Maharashtra, that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The Indians were founded in 2008 and are owned by India's largest Conglomerate (company), co ...

team for the

2017 Indian Premier League The 2017 Indian Premier League season (also known as IPL 10 and branded as Vivo IPL 2017) was the tenth edition of the Indian Premier League, a professional Twenty20 cricket league established by the Board of Control for Cricket in India, BCCI ...

for INR 30

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s but didn't play any match in the whole season. Pooran Played for

Islamabad United Islamabad United () is a Pakistani professional Twenty20 franchise cricket team that competes in the Pakistan Super League (PSL). The team is based in Islamabad, the capital city of Pakistan, and was formed in 2015 to compete in the first ...

in 2017 Pakistan Super League as he was drafted in as a replacement of England's

Ben Duckett Ben Matthew Duckett (born 17 October 1994) is an English international cricketer who plays for the England cricket team in all three formats of the game. He is a left-handed top-order batter who can play as a wicket-keeper. Duckett plays domes ...

in United's squad. He joined the team ahead of play-offs. He made his debut against

Karachi Kings Karachi Kings (; ) is a Pakistani professional franchise Twenty20 cricket team that competes in the Pakistan Super League (PSL). The team is based in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh, and was formed in 2015 by the Pakistan Cricket Boar ...

. Pooran went unsold in the 2018 IPL auction after setting his base price at INR 50 lakhs. In October 2018, he was named in the Sylhet Sixers team, following the draft for the

2018–19 Bangladesh Premier League The Bangladesh Premier League 2019, also known as BPL Season 6 or United Commercial Bank Ltd, UCB BPL 2019 Powered by TVS Motor Company, TVS (for sponsorship reasons), was the sixth season of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), the top level p ...

. He was the leading run-scorer for the team in the tournament, with 379 runs in eleven matches. In December 2018, he was bought by the

Kings XI Punjab The Punjab Kings, also known as PBKS, formerly known as Kings XI Punjab, are a professional Twenty20 cricket team based in New Chandigarh, Punjab, that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The franchise is jointly owned by Mohit Burm ...

in the player auction for the

2019 Indian Premier League The 2019 Indian Premier League season (also known as IPL 12) was the twelfth season of the Indian Premier League, a professional Twenty20 cricket league established by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in 2007. At one point othe ...

for 4.2

crore Crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes the quantity ten million (107) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. In many international contexts, the decimal quantity is formatted as 10,000,000, but when used in the context of the India ...

($). Pooran had an excellent IPL 2020 season as he scored a total of 353 runs in the 14 matches he played in the season. He was also the fourth highest six hitter in the 2020 IPL season as he hit 25 sixes altogether in the season. He however scored only 85 runs in

IPL 2021 The 2021 Indian Premier League (also known as IPL 14, or for sponsorship reasons, VIVO IPL 2021) was the fourteenth season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), a professional Twenty20 cricket league established by the Board of Control for Cricke ...

. In the 2022 IPL Auction, Pooran was bought by the

Sunrisers Hyderabad The Sunrisers Hyderabad, also known as SRH, are a professional Twenty20 cricket team based in Hyderabad, Telangana, that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The franchise is owned by Kalanithi Maran of the Sun Group and was found ...

for ₹10.75 crore. For 2023, he was bought by the

for ₹16 crore in the IPL auction. In 2023, Pooran was drafted by

MI New York MI New York is an American professional Twenty20 cricket team based in New York City that competes in Major League Cricket (MLC). The team was established in June 2023 as one of six inaugural teams. The team's planned home ground is in Marine Par ...

for the inaugural season of

Major League Cricket Major League Cricket (MLC) is a professional Twenty20 (T20) cricket league in the United States organized by American Cricket Enterprises (ACE) and sanctioned by USA Cricket. Founded in 2023, the league operates as a single entity consisting of ...

; in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

, he scored 137 runs from 55 balls, contributing to the team's victory, and was named the player of the season. In 2025, Pooran had an extremely successful season with the Lucknow Super Giants, scoring 525 runs for the squad. He was in contention for the Orange Cap as well, which is an award for the player with the most runs in an IPL season. He scored 4 fifties in the season, leading his team.

International career

He made his

Twenty20 International Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of Twenty20 cricket, in which each team plays a single innings with a maximum of twenty overs. The matches are played between international teams recognized by the International Cricket Council (ICC). ...

(T20I) debut for the West Indies against Pakistan on 23 September 2016. In November 2018, he was named in the West Indies' squad for their tour to India. In the third T20I match, he scored an unbeaten 53 runs off just 25 balls to claim his maiden half-century in T20I cricket. In February 2019, he was named in the West Indies'

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

(ODI) for their series against England. He made his ODI debut for the West Indies against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

on 20 February 2019. In April 2019, he was named in the West Indies' squad for the

2019 Cricket World Cup The 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup was the 12th Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament contested by men's national teams and organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). The tournament was hosted bet ...

. On 1 July 2019, in the match against

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

, Pooran scored his first century in ODIs. He finished the tournament as the leading run-scorer for the West Indies, with 367 runs in nine matches. Following the World Cup, the

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the global Sports governing body, governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from Australia, England, and South Africa. In 1965, the body wa ...

(ICC) named Pooran the rising star of the squad. In July 2019,

Cricket West Indies Cricket West Indies (CWI) is the governing body for cricket in the West Indies (a sporting confederation of over a dozen mainly Commonwealth Caribbean, English-speaking Caribbean countries and dependencies that once formed the British West Ind ...

awarded him with a central contract for the first time, ahead of the 2019–20 season. In November 2019, during the third ODI against Afghanistan, Pooran was found guilty of

ball tampering In the sport of cricket, ball tampering is an action in which a fielder illegally alters the condition of the ball. The primary motivation of ball tampering is to interfere with the aerodynamics of the ball to aid swing bowling. Definition Und ...

. Pooran admitted the charge, and was banned for four T20I matches. In July 2021, he was named in the West Indies' squad as the vice captain for their home series against Australia. As

Kieron Pollard Kieron Adrian Pollard (born 12 May 1987) is a Trinidadian cricketer, who captained the West Indies cricket team in limited overs cricket. He used to play in various T20 leagues around the globe as an all-rounder. He also used to captain MI Ca ...

was eventually ruled out of the T20I series, Pooran captained the West Indies for the first time in T20Is. Pooran led the Windies to a 4–1 win over Australia in the T20I series. In September 2021, Pooran was named as the vice-captain of the West Indies' squad for the

2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup The 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup was the seventh edition of the Men's T20 World Cup, formerly known as the ICC World Twenty20, a Twenty20 cricket tournament that took place from 17 October to 14 November 2021. The tournament was hosted by Unit ...

. During series against India, Pooran was the highest run scorer in T20I series. He scored 184 runs including three half centuries, highest score of 62. Despite his performance, West Indies lost all three matches. On 3 May 2022, he was appointed as a captain of West Indies national cricket team for the limited overs format. During the third match of the ODI series against Pakistan, Pooran took his first wicket in international and ODI cricket, with his final figures being 4 for 48. He was named the captain for the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

squad for the

2022 ICC Men's T20 World Cup The 2022 ICC Men's T20 World Cup was the eighth edition of the Men's T20 World Cup, formerly known as the ICC World Twenty20. It was played in Australia from 16 October to 13 November 2022. In the final, England cricket team, England beat Pakist ...

, however, the team suffered an early exit in the first round, after losing 2 out of 3 matches and failed to qualify for the Super 12 round. Post-World Cup, on 21 November 2022, Pooran stepped down as the limited-overs captain of the West Indies team. In May 2024, he was named in the West Indies squad for the

2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup The 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup was the ninth edition of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup, co-hosted by Cricket West Indies and USA Cricket from 1 to 29 June 2024. It was the first major ICC tournament to include matches played in the United ...

tournament. In the tournament, he scored 27 runs off 27 balls against

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

, 22 runs off 17 balls against

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, and 17 runs off 12 balls against

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. His performance against New Zealand propelled him to 1914 runs, surpassing

Chris Gayle Christopher Henry Gayle (born 21 September 1979) is a Jamaican cricket team, Jamaican cricketer who has played international cricket for the West Indies cricket team, West Indies from 1999 to 2021. Nicknamed "The Universe Boss", Gayle is wide ...

's 1899, and becoming the highest run-scorer for the West Indies in T20I Against

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

he scored 98 as the

defeated them by 104 runs. In June 2025, Pooran announced his retirement from international cricket at the age of 29.

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pooran, Nicolas 1995 births Living people West Indies One Day International cricketers West Indies Twenty20 International cricketers Trinidad and Tobago cricketers Trinidad and Tobago people of Indian descent Sportspeople of Indian descent Trinbago Knight Riders cricketers West Indian cricketers of the 21st century St Kitts and Nevis Patriots cricketers Barbados Royals cricketers Khulna Tigers cricketers Islamabad United cricketers Multan Sultans cricketers Trinidad and Tobago expatriate cricketers in Pakistan Sylhet Strikers cricketers Punjab Kings cricketers Guyana Amazon Warriors cricketers Cricketers at the 2019 Cricket World Cup Wicket-keepers Melbourne Stars cricketers Trinidad and Tobago expatriate cricketers in Australia Sunrisers Hyderabad cricketers Lucknow Super Giants cricketers Trinidad and Tobago expatriate cricketers in India People educated at Naparima College Trinidad and Tobago expatriate cricketers in Bangladesh Northern Superchargers cricketers