When life gives you a second chance, use it like the West Indies cricket player Nicholas Pooran, whose career was almost over at the time when he was at his peak. Nicholas Pooran, who is a West Indies International cricketer representing the Caribbean team in all three formats, got involved in the worst car accident at the age of 19 years, for which he was out of the cricket field for more than 2 years before making his return in 2018 from the West Indies team in the inaugural season of the Global T20 Canada Tournament. Today, we are going to talk about one of the most prominent batters from the West Indies team who made an inspirational return to the cricket field and an inspiration for every cricketer in the World.

Nicholas Pooran was born on October 2, 1994, in Trinidad and Tobago. The wicket-keeper batsman was one of the players who started his cricketing career at a very young age he broke a lot of records at the school level cricket while playing for Naparima College in Fernand due to which he was signed by Trinidad and Tobago, where he represented them in various age groups. Later, he made his national under-19 debut at the age of 16 in 2012 and for the West Indies under-19s in 2013 before representing his nation in the 2014 Under-19 World Cup, where he showed his first glimpse by playing a memorable knock of 143 runs against Australia 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". The Southpaw batter scored a total of 303 runs from six matches, ranking fourth for total runs and leading the West Indies' averages.

Pooran became a big name in West Indies cricket from Trinidad, who started to grab everyone's attention for his incredible wicket-keeping skills and a batsman who has got the ability to play at different stages of the game where in the death overs he can become one of the score runs at a higher strike rate of more than 200 plus, which made him pick in the inaugural edition of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL)  from Red Steel squad, Trinidad's CPL franchise, at the age of just 17 where he was the youngest player in the competition.

In his debut match only, the left-hand wicket-keeper batsman scored  54 runs from 24 balls, against Guyana Amazon Warriors, which included six sixes and was noted for its "clean, calm stroke play". However, after this match, he was unable to perform before making his first-class debut for Trinidad and Tobago against the Leeward Islands in November 2014.

Severe Car Accident in 2015

Everything was going fine in Nicholas Pooran’s life, he has made a big name in West Indies cricket after playing at age of 17 in the renowned Caribbean Premier League from Trinidad and Tobago. But life has planned something else for the West Indies batter, where he wants to test his patience and love for the game, which made him now one of the best batsmen from the West Indies team.

Nicholas Pooran was involved in a tragic road accident in St. Mary's, Trinidad, sustaining ankle and knee injuries due to which he was unable to stand for 6 months. Everyone thought the career of the young batter was over, but he returned to cricket, making a name for himself in various franchise leagues before cementing his place in international cricket as a champion. It was one of the difficult times for the West Indies star batter as he suffered a chronic ankle injury in a car accident, which put him out of action for almost two years. He returned with a bang though - scoring 217 runs in the eight games - in the 2016 season of the CPL, which led to an international cap against Pakistan later in the year. 

T20 Franchise Career

Despite being fit and back to the game, he was not getting many chances to play as after being picked by the Mumbai Indians franchise on the base price of 30 Lakhs in IPL 2017, he didn’t get a chance to play the whole season. However, he was picked up by Islamabad United in place of Ben Duckett, who got injured in the Pakistan Super League( PSL), where he made his debut against Karachi Kings before being selected in Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) from Sylhet Sixers team, where in the debut season he became the top scorer from the tournament, which made him pick in the 2019 IPL from Punjab Kings at a whopping price of 4.2 crores. Pooran had an excellent IPL 2020 season, as he scored a total of 353 runs in the 14 matches he played in the season.

Currently, Pooran is playing for Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) after being picked up by them at a huge price of 16 crores in the IPL auctions.

International Career

Nicholas Pooran made his International debut for the West Indies against Pakistan on 23 September 2016. Later, in November 2018, he was named in the West Indies squad for their tour to India, where in the third T20I match, he scored his maiden half-century in just 25 balls. 

After his impressive performance against the Indian team, he was picked for the West Indies' One Day International (ODI) for their series against England in 2019.

The turning point came in his career when he was named in the West Indies' squad for the 2019 Cricket World Cup, where on, July 1, 2019, in the match against Sri Lanka, 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 for which Cricket West Indies awarded him with a central contract for the first time, ahead of the 2019–20 season.

CONTROVERSIES

• In 2016, he was banned by the West Indies Cricket Board for 10 months after he was signed by the Khulna Titans in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL).
• In November 2019, he was caught in a ball-tampering act during the third ODI between West Indies and Afghanistan. He was banned for 4 match

However, Pooran returned to International cricket as the vice-captain for their home series against Australia, after Kieron Pollard was eventually ruled out of the T20I series, Pooran captained the West Indies for the first time in T20Is, taking the Windies to a 4–1 win over Australia in the T20I series. After which, Pooran was named as the vice-captain of the West Indies squad for the 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup.

RECORDS OF NICHOLAS POORAN

• In 2013, he became the youngest-ever cricketer to have played in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL).
• Pooran became the highest run-scorer for the West Indies in T20I, surpassing the legendary Chris Gayle record.