Nicholas Pooran has all the shots in the cricketing book according to former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir. It is a quality for which AB de Villiers is famous. He made this observation during a discussion on Star Sports. Gautam Gambhir stated that Nicholas Pooran is the young player he would like to watch in IPL 2020.
He was asked to give his opinion on the left-hander, who showed a lot of promise in the recently concluded CPL where he plays for Guyana Amazon Warriors.
The 24-year-old batsman debuted in 2013 in CPL and has notched up 1281 runs averaging 24.6 in 71 matches. In 2020, he scored his only century in CPL and amassed 245 runs averaging 27.2 in 11 matches.
Nicholas Pooran Has All Types Of Shots And Will Be Looked Forward In IPL 2020: Gautam Gambhir
In 7 matches in IPL, he has scored 168 runs averaging exactly 28. He had played all the matches in the previous season in 2019 for Kings XI Punjab.
“For me, Nicholas Pooran is the young player I would like to watch in this IPL,” Gautam Gambhir said.
He reasoned that the Trinidadian is an all-round player, much like former South African AB de Villiers, with all sorts of cricketing shots in his collection.
“We talk about AB de Villiers as a 360-degree player but Nicholas Pooran has all types of shots. He can play the reverse sweep, normal sweep and is capable of playing the big shots,” Gautam Gambhir said.
Gautam Gambhir observed that Anil Kumble, the Director of Cricket Operations at Kings XI Punjab, would be able to extract the best out of Nicholas Pooran when the latter plays for the franchise.
“So such a player, when he plays under a coach like Anil Kumble, I have full confidence that Anil Kumble will be able to extract the best out of him.”
The former KKR captain termed Anil Kumble a great coach while mentioning that he is eager to see what the veteran leg-spinner would be able to do at the helm of the Punjab-based franchise.
“A great coach, who had won Mumbai Indians the title, I would want to see what he can do with the Kings XI,” he concluded.
The West Indies wicket-keeper batsman Nicholas Pooran has a reputation of being an explosive batsman and has been impressive in T20 leagues across the world. He plays in the same team as destructive Chris Gayle.
Scott Styris on Nicholas Pooran:
Scott Styris opined that Nicholas Pooran should be entrusted with greater responsibility by Kings XI Punjab for the franchise to be successful in IPL 2020.
“Players like Nicholas Pooran, who we have seen in the IPL, need to have bigger roles for their side. I think for Kings XI Punjab to have a big tournament, he needs to be given real responsibility,”Scott Styris said.
The former Kiwi all-rounder signed off by stating that the swashbuckling middle-order batsman should be promoted up the order and allowed to play a majority of the overs.
“He needs to be moved up, not quite to the top of the order but certainly given a majority of the deliveries in the innings,” he concluded.
Nicholas Pooran was in decent form in the recently concluded CPL. The 24-year-old amassed 245 runs in the tournament, with his unbeaten 100-run knock being the only century scored in the league in 2o20.