West Indies captain Kieron Pollard said he is looking forward to joining forces with Chris Gayle and helping the team defend the T20 World Cup. Pollard said there is no words to describe the contribution of Gayle to West Indies, especially in World Cups and T20 World Cups over the years.
West Indies are the defending champions of the T20 World Cup and the 2-time champions will begin their campaign against reigning 50-over world champions England in Dubai on October 23. West Indies have been drawn alongside Australia, South Africa and 2 more teams who will join the Super 12 stages from Round 1, which gets underway from Sunday in Oman.
Gayle, 42, has been one of the greats of the game, especially in the shortest format. Gayle has scored more than 14,000 runs in T20 cricket, hitting a record-breaking tally of 22 hundreds.
Heading into the showpiece, Gayle is just 97 runs short of becoming the highest run scorer in T20 World Cup, and Pollard said that there are no words to describe what the ‘Universe Boss’ has done for their country.
“Again, no words to describe what he has done for us in World Cups, in the T20 World Cups, and T20 cricket around the world as an individual,” Pollard said during a captains’ media session organised by the ICC on Saturday.
“For him, 97 runs away, but I don’t think he will be looking at that. I think the main goal for us and him, is trying to win a World Cup and defend the title. He is looking forward to that. Hopefully, he can come and deliver for us. We back him to do well,” Pollard added.
The IPL was “a good experience” despite his franchise Mumbai Indians’ failure to make the playoffs, according to Pollard.
“I thought it was good for us and again not only as but all the players who are involved in this World Cup. Get an opportunity to get a feel for what the UAE has to offer.
“I am sure some interesting sort of stats, comparisons, different sort of trends might have come out of the recently-concluded IPL,” Pollard added.
