West Indies cricketers dominated the IPL 2022 mega auction and made the highest number of overseas players.
During the mega auction, held on February 12 and February 12, a total of 14 Caribbean cricketers were sold to 9 franchises after three players were already retained by their respective IPL teams.
However, West Indies skipper Kieron Pollard on Tuesday (February 15) said its time to move on from the auction and focus on international cricket as has his team looks to beat India in the T20 series, starting February 16 in Kolkata.
“That’s (IPL auction) is done and dusted and it’s back to International cricket. When the IPL comes they will deal with that. It’s about representing the West Indies and putting your best foot forward now,” Pollard said in a virtual media interaction on the eve of the three-T20I series.
West vice-captain Nicholas Pooran secured the highest bid among his teammates as he was signed by Sunrisers Hyderabad for INR 10.75 crore in the mega auction.
Asked if the players will look to justify their whopping amount by displaying their talents in the series, Pollard said: “I would not say that. Every time they get an opportunity to represent their International team, they want to do well.
“These guys would have been selected in the IPL. Each and every time you step on a cricket field, you are expected to do well.”
West Indies suffered a 3-0 whitewash in the ODI series and Pollard hoped his team would bounce back in the upcoming T20I series.
“Guys who have not been here before would have got some experience of the conditions coming up against a well drilled Indian team. For us it’s about improving all the time. We can definitely improve on that,” he said.
In their last T20I series, West Indies defeated England 3-2 in a five-match series at home.
“For us it’s about consistency. We had a very good series against England. We faltered a couple of times in the back end of the innings. But we showed that there’s something inside these guys and there’s a belief to do well,” he said.
“We are very confident. We have been able to come out on top against England, it will give us that extra confidence against India.
“The guys would be looking forward to score runs on these sort of surfaces where it’s conducive for strokemaking. We are looking forward to it and the guys are quietly confident.”
Pollard had missed the last two ODIs due to knee injury but the skipper is now raring to go in the T20I series.
“Things have improved for me. It was one of the knees . and the rigours of the 50-over game was very very difficult. As we stand right now all of us are available for selection,” he said.
(With PTI inputs)
