TKR skipper Pooran: Age is just a number

WHEN the Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) squad for the 2025 Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League (CPL) campaign was announced at the draft on June 18, captain Nicholas Pooran said many people wrote off their team and criticised the franchise for picking players who were deemed to be past their best.

However, as the 2025 CPL final came to an end at the Providence Stadium, Guyana on September 21, the experience and know-how of coach Dwayne Bravo’s team was on full display when they defeated their rivals Guyana Amazon Warriors by three wickets in an epic low-scoring clash.

It was TKR’s fifth CPL crown and their first away from home, having won their four previous titles (2015, 2017, 2018 and 2020) in Trinidad and Tobago at the Queen’s Park Oval and the Brian Lara Cricket Academy respectively.

Speaking to the media at a welcome reception for TKR at the Piarco International Airport on September 22, Pooran said he and his troops were delighted to silence the doubters as he got a taste of CPL success for the first time.

“When we picked this squad, a lot of guys counted us out and said these guys’ time had passed and they’re old and need to give other guys opportunities. But these guys constantly prove why they’re legends of the game. Age is just a number and experience is something you can’t buy,” Pooran said.

The average age of the full TKR squad, including late injury replacement Saurabh Netravalkar, was 31.7, while the average age of the playing XI for the final was 33.7. These were years of experience Pooran was able to bank on during the tourney as 38-year-old New Zealand opening batsman Colin Munro set the tone with a brilliant 120 in the team’s first match away to the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots on August 17, while 2025 CPL MVP Kieron Pollard, 38, was exemplary throughout the tourney – plundering 383 runs at an average of 54.71 and a beastly strike rate of 174.09.

With captain Pooran leading by example with 426 runs, TKR had four of the top six batsmen in the tournament as Munro (416 runs), Alex Hales, 36, (386 runs) and Pollard all delivered the goods at different stages of the title run.

The team had a four-game winning streak in their home leg in Tarouba before consecutive losses to 2024 champions St Lucia Kings, the Warriors and Barbados Royals saw them closing the preliminary round in wobbly form as they approached a must-win eliminator game with the Antigua and Barbuda Falcons.

Asking to be promoted to number three, Pooran blitzed the Falcons in the eliminator with a brutal unbeaten 90 and received a fine for his over-exuberance after a display of dissent towards the umpire.

In the second qualifier, Pooran then made a brisk 50 off 32 and set the tempo in an innings which saw TKR post an unassailable 194 for four against the Kings. In the final, Pooran made just one before falling to the wily Dwaine Pretorius in the power play, but timely cameos by his countrymen Pollard (21 off 12), Sunil Narine (22 off 17) and Man of the Match Akeal Hosein (16 not out off seven) saw TKR home in their anxious chase of a modest 131-run target.

“From inception, I felt we were dominant from the beginning of the tournament. Coming to the back end of the tournament, we lost a couple of games and lost some momentum and found ourselves in an eliminator game. As a group, we had to sit and re-evaluate what had gone right for us and what had gone wrong,” Pooran said.

“We had to take the hard road. But I believe in life, when you want something, you have to work hard for it. We had to work really hard going into Guyana. We know how hostile that crowd could be. We knew we had to win three out of three games to be successful and that’s what we did.”

GUYANESE FANFARE GOING A STEP TOO FAR

Pooran, who represented the Guyanese franchise from 2019-2021, believes their fans have gone overboard in their banter towards players and particularly Pollard, who took four catches in the final and was engaged in some byplay with the Providence faithful.

After the match, Pollard said the booing from opposing fans had become boring and he wanted cricket lovers to focus on the bigger picture of West Indies cricket even in the midst of regional rivalry.

“You have a guy who has represented the Caribbean over a period of time and putting them on the map in a format, but yet still we don’t appreciate him. I’m not bitter, but I feel sorry, not for myself,” Pollard said, after TKR’s CPL final win.

“I do it because I love the game and I love the sport and this means a lot...booing around the Caribbean at 38 years old, but we are still the laughing stock of cricket in the world.”

Pooran was in agreement with the former Windies captain.

“I heard what (Pollard) said and he’s absolutely right. It’s too long now where we continue to hate on our own people. The region is really small. We compete with the rest of the world. And yet still, when someone is great and doing really well, we still find a way to bring them down,” Pooran said.

“For us, that’s really disappointing. The boos, we can tolerate it as players. But from a fan’s perspective, we represented West Indies at some point in our careers and the same people support us. Why, when we play for Trinidad versus Guyana or any other island, they’re booing us or booing him, especially.

“I just think that sports bring everyone together. CPL brings everyone together. We see that and we see the love, especially in Trinidad and Guyana when the fans come out. Instead of us using that for hatred or trying to bring someone down. At the end of the day, we’re human beings and we can come together as one.”