Pooran’s stocks rise despite dismal Windies

LONDON (CMC):

Left-hander Nicholas Pooran has climbed eight places into the top 30 of the International Cricket Council Twenty20 batting rankings.

The 26-year-old gathered 108 runs in the just-concluded three-match series against Pakistan in Karachi, boasting a strike rate of nearly 148 while hitting a career-best half-century in the final game.

Pooran now lies 27th in the rankings topped by the pair of Pakistan’s Mohammad Rizwan and England’s Dawid Malan, and is one of only two West Indies players in the top 30.

Fellow Trinidadian and left-hander Evin Lewis sits in 15th spot after dropping one notch. The aggressive opener missed the Pakistan series because of personal reasons.

Pooran, who led West Indies on the tour after regular captain Kieron Pollard was forced out with injury, scored 18 in the opening T20 International, 26 in the second, and 64 off 37 balls in the final game as his side crested the 200-run mark for only the third time in three years.

Apart from Pooran, the only other player to score a half-century in the series was opener Brandon King, with 67 – his maiden T20I fifty – in the second outing.

NOT ENOUGH

However, the knock was not enough to see him break into the top 100 where Shimron Hetmyer (50th), Pollard (71st) and Lendl Simmons (88th) all feature.

In the bowling rankings, left-arm spinner Fabian Allen remained the highest-ranked West Indies player at 33rd, despite missing the Pakistan series.

Of those who played, leg-spinner Hayden Walsh Jr slid 14 places to 52nd after claiming a single wicket in two matches, while left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein dropped five spots to 73rd after picking up just two wickets.

Hosein was among six players, and nine members of the travelling party overall, who tested positive for COVID-19, forcing the abandonment of the one-day phase of the tour.