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West Indies T20 captain Shai Hope said the destructive batting of Nicholas Pooran would have been an asset to the team in the three-match T20 series against England, but said they can't dwell on it as they must cope with the players available.
Pooran recently ended a long stint in the Indian Premier League (IPL) where he featured for Lucknow Super Giants for more than two months. Pooran asked for time to rest and is unavailable for the T20 series against England.
Speaking at a media conference on June 5, Hope said, "We understand the importance and the asset he (Pooran) is to this team. There are certain things we can't control. We just have to focus on here and the now, not necessarily too much on Pooran not being here. We get how big of a miss he can be because he is a big, impactful player on any team he plays for."
Pooran had a fruitful IPL as he cracked 524 runs at an average of 43.66. The left-hander was 11th on the run-scoring charts, but had a better strike rate than all the batsmen ahead of him. Pooran finished with an astonishing strike rate of 196.25.
England swept the ODI series 3-0 which ended on June 3, but Hope said the team is looking ahead. "I would just say we need to adapt a bit quicker, assess the conditions and obviously play particular situations a bit better. It is a different squad now and we have to put that ODI series behind us, taking the learnings from it for sure and then look ahead."
Hope recently replaced Rovman Powell as the Windies T20 captain and with experienced players like Andre Russell and Jason Holder joining the team, the new skipper is confident.
"We got a new captain, some experienced players coming back into the T20 side, so there is a lot to look forward to...the focus is now on the T20."
England's batting was impressive in the ODI series led by Joe Root. Jamie Smith, with just 13 matches under his belt, starred in the last match of the ODI series with 64 off 28 balls.
"It is for us to formulate plans against all the batters, not just Jamie Smith," Hope said. "It is important for us to know that England is one of those teams that is always going to be coming at us and how we are going to stop them is the biggest question. The conversations are ongoing. It is not something that started last week or a month ago. It has been going on a long time. It is just to make sure we are on top of whatever they throw at us and make sure we are ready for the challenge."

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