FORMER West Indies leg-spinner Samuel Badree felt that Kieron Pollard still had a lot to offer the regional team in the T20 arena and that his retirement from the international game was timed to give the incoming white-ball skipper enough time to get his squad together for the upcoming T20 World Cup later this year.

The hard-hitting all-rounder announced his retirement from the international arena last week, five months ahead of the T20 showpiece in Australia in October.

“It gives the incoming captain, whether it is Nicholas Pooran or whoever it may be— there is some speculation that Jason Holder is a contender—an opportunity between now and that World Cup to solidify his team,” Badree said of the timing of Pollard’s retirement.

Badree, who is now an international cricket commentator, said there are a few tours coming up as well as the Caribbean Premier League before the qualifiers and feels these series will give the next skipper time to put a team together for the World Cup.

“There are tours against Bangladesh, India and New Zealand here before the CPL and then I think there is a three-match series in Australia just prior to the qualifiers, so it gives the in-coming captain ample opportunity to get that leadership experience and to get the support of the team and identify various strategies and to become familiar with the role and responsibilities that comes with it,” said Badree.

“So, if Kieron Pollard had to make the decision which he did, I think it was timed in such a way to give that in-coming person enough time to prepare for that World Cup. The fact that he has retired now, there is still quite a long way before the T20 World Cup in Australia and the qualifiers. The West Indies will be in that qualifying round before they get into the main round. Fingers crossed they will be able to qualify for the main round of that T20 World Cup,” he added.

In terms of Pollard’s announcement, last week, Badree said it caught him by surprise. “It was unexpected and even if he wanted to step away from the game a bit I thought maybe he would have stepped aside from One-Day Internationals and played only T20 Internationals given the fact that it is a World Cup year and also in a couple of years the West Indies will be hosting the T20 World Cup in 2024,” Badree explained.

“So, I thought given those two events in close proximity and given the fact that Kieron Pollard still has a lot to offer to West Indies white-ball cricket but more specifically in T20 cricket, I thought he could have played that singular version for some time more,” he added.(Extracted from Trinidasd Express)