Kieron Pollard likely to be included in Windies' World Cup squad

The deadline to submit the final World Cup squads for the 10 participating teams is May 23. England and Pakistan are likely to make changes to their 15-man troops just a week before the mega event. Now, even the Cricket West Indies (CWI) seem to be tweaking their line-up. The T20 veteran Kieron Pollard is likely to be included in the Windies World Cup squad with one of the players getting injured.

If at all, Pollard makes a come back to the side, it will be a massive lifeline for him and his international career. He last played an ODI back in 2016 against Pakistan in the UAE and featured for the Windies last in November 2018 against India in the T20I series. Pollard was part of the title-winning Mumbai Indians (MI) side recently and played a couple of game-changing knocks including that of in the final.

According to the reports in Guardian Media Sports, the selection panel headed by Ja­maican Robert Haynes reckons that a player as experienced as Kieron Pollard should be part of the World Cup squad.

Final decision to be made soon

The report also added that CWI is waiting for the fitness report of one of the players from the originally selected squad and if he doesn’t get fit in time, then Kieron Pollard will be included. The final decision will be taken this weekend and also a formal announcement will take place. Pollard’s inclusion might raise a lot of eyebrows as he wasn’t the part of the recently concluded tri-series in Ireland.

Sunil Ambris was one of the biggest positives for the Caribbean side in the tournament. He opened the innings for them and raked up runs at will. But Pollard’s experience is too much having played 101 ODIs for Windies amassing 2289 runs and has also picked up 50 wickets with the ball. Though he might not ball, the veteran’s presence on the field will be crucial, if at all, he gets picked.

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