Pollard backs senior players to get Windies back into winning habit
Mar 03, 2021
St John's [Antigua], March 3 : West Indies skipper Kieron Pollard feels the side needs to strike a perfect balance between the young players and experienced lads in order to get back to winning ways.
Windies and Sri Lanka will lock horns with each other in a three-match T20I series which gets underway from Wednesday (local time). The star all-rounder said the time has come that West Indies starts winning games on a regular basis.
The hosts are the defending champions of World T20 and but since their victory, in the mega event, the West Indies have just clinched 16 out of 50 T20Is.
"You look at some of the younger guys that have gotten the opportunities when we started off around 2019, and it has not really produced the results on a consistent basis," ESPNcricinfo quoted Pollard as saying.
"As a team we need to start winning cricket matches, win series. Because we can go down the line of saying 'we need to blood this talent, blood this talent', but some of you same guys will start talking about the results as well," he further said.
"So we have to strike that balance [between youth and experience], we have to start winning T20 matches, we are the defending champions, and we have to get back into the habit of winning. And if that means getting a couple of senior guys in to start that process, so be it," Pollard added.
Star batsman Chris Gayle and pacer Fidel Edwards will return to play for West Indies in the T20I series. Gayle will return to play for the first time in two years for the hosts while Edwards will take the field for West Indies after nine years.
"These guys continue to perform despite their age. And one that thing that has been said throughout is that once you show that you can perform at the highest level, such as franchise cricket from the T20 point of view, the opportunity is still there," said Pollard.
After the T20I series, West Indies will shift focus towards the 50-over format. The first ODI between Sri Lanka and West Indies will be played on March 10.
