CPL 2025: Nicholas Pooran replaces Keiron Pollard to lead Trinbago Knight Riders

Trinidad and Tobago: As the highly anticipated Caribbean Premier League 2025 has officially kicked off, Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) have made a major announcement: Nicholas Pooran will be leading the TKR in the 13th edition of CPL 2025. 

Pooran has taken over from Keiron Pollard who led the team since 2019 but he stepped down to make way for Pooran who is his former West Indies teammate.  

While accepting the leadership role, Pooran, through an official press release said that it means a lot, first and foremost to represent Trinbago Knight Riders. The cricketer further called the opportunity as a true privilege and noted that he is getting the chance to lead the franchise and he will be giving his best shot and hopefully make as several correct decisions as he can.  

Pooran further added that it is a responsibility that has been on from Dwayne Bravo from 2013-2019 to Pollard from 2019 to 2024 and now to him.  

He added that the most satisfying thing is that Pollard is still playing along with Sunil Narine as well as Andre Russell. Nicholas Pooran emphasised that this is a lot for him to lead them on the field.  

The 29 year old cricketer also recalled that he started his career at the age of 17, playing for Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel where Bravo was his captain. He said that after recovering from a career threatening accident, he suffered in 2015, he recalled that Pollard picked him in the Barbados Francise where he was his captain.  

Pooran switched to Barbados Royals (BR) and Guyana Amazon Warriors before returning to Knight Riders in 2022. He has played in all the CPL seasons except for 2015, when he met with a tragic accident. 

Overall in the CPL tournament, Pooran has hit 2447 runs at a strike rate of 152.27 in 114 matches. He also serves as the captain of MI New York in the MLC and MI Emirates in the ILT20. 

Notably, Pollard’s reign as captain was marked by consistency as between 2019 and 2024, Trinbago Knight Riders, under his leadership, not only clinched the 2020 CPL title, which was their 4th trophy in the T20 tournament but also did it with a record unbeaten season where they won all 12 of their matches before making two more playoff appearances.  

Now, Pooran also looks forward to building on the same momentum and follow the footsteps of his former captain and teammate.