ST. JOHN’S: West Indies’ white-ball captain Kieron Pollard withdrew on Sunday from the upcoming tour of Pakistan after failing to recover from the hamstring injury he sustained in the Twenty20 World Cup.

West Indies will play three T20s and three 50-over matches at Karachi’s National Stadium starting on Dec 13 in what will be the first visit by an international side since England and New Zealand pulled out of scheduled tours this year for security reasons.

“Pollard will undergo rehabilitation work in Trinidad ... and will be reassessed in a few weeks ahead of the upcoming home tours against Ireland and England in January 2022,” Cricket West Indies said in a statement on Sunday.

Cricket West Indies said Nicholas Pooran will lead the T20I side — he also captained them in the 4-1 win over Australia in St Lucia earlier this year — with all-rounder Rovman Powell replacing Pollard as a player.

Shai Hope will captain the one-day international team for the first time with the experienced Devon Thomas coming into the squad.

West Indies, who failed to reach the T20 World Cup semi-finals, have picked several uncapped players in two 15-man squads for the tour of Pakistan.

The ODI series will be West Indies’ fourth of 12 in the men’s Cricket World Cup Super League in which the top seven teams can secure automatic qualification for the 2023 World Cup in India.

West Indies currently lie in eighth position out of 13 teams and have the opportunity to move above Pakistan into seventh position.

Published in Dawn, December 6th, 2021