06 December,2019 07:28 AM IST | Hyderabad | A correspondent
West Indies skipper Kieron Pollard looks on during a practice session at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad yesterday. Pic/AFP
Hyderabad: Kieron Pollard had a fairly forgettable debut outing as captain of the West Indies Twenty20 International team as Afghanistan bounced back from 0-1 down to clinch the three-match series in Lucknow last month.
The muscular all-rounder will face another daunting challenge when he leads his troops out in the first of three games in Uppal on Friday, well aware that West Indies have lost their last six matches to India.
Choosing not to dwell too much on that, Pollard said on Thursday: "It's very unfortunate that we can't do anything about the past. We can only deal with what's in front of us. Yes, we are coming up against India - a formidable team - and we as a team are trying to prepare well, tick the boxes, and hopefully the results take care of themselves. We can't control the results but what we can control is preparation and mindset."
The 2016 World T20 champions are without several stalwarts including Andre Russell, Sunil Narine and Carlos Brathwaite, but there is a host of young talent that has excited Pollard.
Among the ones to watch out for are Brandon King, the leading scorer in Caribbean Premier League 2019, and leggie Hayden Walsh Jr, apart from Shimron Hetmyer, Nicholas Pooran and Keemo Paul, who have all been around for a little while now.
"It's just a matter of trying to reach them and ease them into the world of international cricket, which we know is a very, very tough place," Pollard pointed out. "The most important thing for the management is to have patience. At the end of the day, you want results but sometimes, you need to be honest with yourself. And that's something we're trying to do in every aspect of our game. I look forward to these talents showing the world what they can do. Sometimes, you need to have that umbrella over them and try and protect them from the vultures that're out to take down their careers pretty quickly."
"You can't judge people on a couple of games, that's the problem we have as individuals. We try to judge people too quickly," he went on. "We need to give people time in everything we do. In order for guys to invest in what they do, they need experience and we as the management team want to back these guys and see how far we can go."
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