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Royal Desert ChampionsWicketkeeper batter
Nicholas Pooran
- Age
- 31y 41d
- Bats
- Left-hand
- Bowls
- Right-arm off break
- From
- Trinidad
- Age
- 31y 41d
- Bats
- Left-hand
- Bowls
- Right-arm off break
- From
- Trinidad
Pooran, a left-handed batter who can also keep wicket when needed, showed his talent while still at school, where he broke a number of records and earned a reputation for powerful hitting. Trinidad Red Steel brought him into the 2013 Caribbean Premier League at the age of 16, making him the youngest player the CPL had ever seen. In his very first game he struck 54 from 24 deliveries. He later starred for West Indies at the Under-19 World Cup, compiling 303 runs across 6 matches while scoring at nearly a run a ball.
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His progress was halted when a car accident left him with a badly hurt ankle, keeping him out of the game for close to two years. He returned in the 2016 CPL with 217 runs from 8 games at a strike rate of 197.27, the best of anyone that season, and that form led to his first international appearance, against Pakistan, later in 2016. Opting for the Bangladesh Premier League over domestic duty then cost him a ban of 10 months. The Global T20 Canada in 2018 revived his claims for a West Indies place, and an unbeaten 53 from 25 balls against India in Chennai became his first half-century at international level.
His ODI career began with a duck in February 2019, yet he was chosen for that year's World Cup with only a single one-day international behind him. He finished the tournament as the leading West Indies scorer with 367 runs at an average of 52.42, including a first ODI century, 118 against Sri Lanka. Appointed to lead the white-ball sides in 2022, he gave up the captaincy within the same year following a poor T20 World Cup. In 2024 nobody scored more T20 runs than his 2331 or cleared the rope more often than his 170 sixes. He surprised many by quitting international cricket in June 2025, aged 29, leaving as the top run-scorer for West Indies in T20 internationals.
Pooran is much sought after by franchise teams. In the IPL, Mumbai Indians signed him in 2017 without giving him a game, and he went unsold in 2018. Punjab Kings paid 4.2 crore in 2019, and he followed 168 runs that season with 353 in 2020, but a dismal 2021 featuring 85 runs and 4 ducks saw him released. Sunrisers Hyderabad spent INR 10.75 crore on him at the 2022 mega auction, and despite passing 300 runs he was let go. Lucknow Super Giants picked him up at the 2023 auction, and he rewarded them with 499 runs at a strike rate of 178.21 in 2024 and 524 runs at 196.25 in 2025.
