Life has strange ways of coming to a full circle. Former West Indies captain Nicholas Pooran, who couldn’t make it to Mumbai Indians‘ Playing XI throughout Indian Premier League 2017, ended up leading their sister franchise MI New York to a title victory in the recently concluded inaugural season of the Major League Cricket.
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Pooran, who is often criticized for not doing justice to his potential, was at his smashing best in MLC 2023 final scoring 137* (55) with the help of 10 fours and 13 sixes. The impact of his power-packed knock was such that MI ended up chasing a 184-run target in just 16 overs. He also finished the season as its highest run-scorer of the tournament.
Nicholas Pooran Warmed Mumbai Indians’ Bench Throughout IPL 2017
Famous for both investing in and grooming raw talents, Mumbai had acquired Pooran for his base price of INR 30 lakh during IPL 2017 auction. A relatively unknown commodity at the time, Pooran had just played three T20Is apart from stints in the Caribbean Premier League, Bangladesh Premier League and the Pakistan Super League before bagging a maiden IPL deal.
Pooran, whose reputation as a hard-hitter had just started to build on the back of a T20 strike rate of 142.58, might have convinced Mumbai to sign him due to the same reason. However, a primary reason why the left-handed batter couldn’t play a single match in a victorious campaign was perhaps how wicket-keeper batter Parthiv Patel was the team’s highest run-scorer that season.
Apart from Patel, other top-performers such as captain Rohit Sharma, vice-captain Kieron Pollard and batter Nitish Rana also batting in the middle-order had made it nearly impossible for the team management to accommodate Pooran. An overseas wicket-keeper batter in Jos Buttler blocking a spot for 10 matches also didn’t help Pooran’s case.
Was Nicholas Pooran Retained By MI For IPL 2018?
Unsurprisingly, no. With MI splurging INR 33 crore in the process of retaining Sharma, all-rounder Hardik Pandya and fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah before IPL 2018 mega auction, a large majority of their IPL 2017 players (including Pooran) had to enter the auction ahead of the 11th season of the IPL. In fact, the West Indian, with a base price of INR 50 lakh, remained unsold during IPL 2018 auction.
Pooran then entered IPL 2019 auction with a base price of INR 75 lakh. Following Delhi Capitals‘ opening bid, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) indulged in a bidding war before the latter secured his services for INR 4.2 crore.
In spite of underwhelming performances for the whole duration of a few IPL seasons, Pooran has grown in stature over the years. Similar to Australia all-rounder Glenn Maxwell in this aspect, Pooran didn’t really make the most of hefty IPL deals at the start of his career. However, playing IPL 2023 for Lucknow Super Giants at an INR 16 crore contract, he finally managed to register a breakthrough season.
Nicholas Pooran Part Of Indians’ Family Now
Much like fellow West Indian spinner Sunil Narine, who is associated with the Knight Riders‘ family, Pooran is part of Indians’ family across different T20 leagues around the world. In addition to the IPL, he was signed by MI Emirates for International League T20 2023 only to be followed by MI New York replicating the move for MLC.
A legendary figure at Indians, Pollard is another common West Indian name across MI’s global teams. As a matter of fact, Pooran replaced Pollard in the leadership role at MI New York after the latter suffered a shoulder injury while fielding in a league match.
Pooran, who led MI New York in a total of three matches including two knockouts, secured victories in each one of them. With franchise cricket spreading its wings like never before, it wouldn’t be a surprise if we see Pooran playing for another MI team in some other part of the world in the future.
