Photo Credit: SA20 League
“No risks, no rewards!”
That’s the motto of Durban’s Super Giants exciting new signing Nicholas Pooran.
It’s a mantra that has been harnessed in close to 300 T20 matches all around the world. There are certainly not many more experienced T20 franchise cricketers than ‘Nicky P’ from Trinidad and Tobago.
The 28-year-old, who has previously captained the West Indies T20I team, has committed to a life as a T20 franchise globetrotter, displaying his amazing skills in the IPL, BPL, the PSL, Hong Kong Blitz, Abu Dhabi T10, Global T20 Canada, Australia’s Big Bash and Major League Cricket (MLC) in the United States.
But Pooran now heads to South Africa for the first time where he will bolster an already imposing DSG batting line-up – which includes Quinton de Kock, Kyle Mayers (both teammates at Lucknow Super Giants) and Heinrich Klaasen.
The left-hander may be diminutive in size, but he packs an almighty punch and has been at the peak of his powers over the past 12 months.
Along with DSG teammate Klaasen, he is among the premier T20 batters in the world.
His phenomenal run started at the IPL, where playing for Lucknow Super Giants – sister team of DSG – he blasted a 13-ball 44 against Sunrisers Hyderabad. It included three consecutive sixes off the first three balls he faced.
However, it was at MLC in Texas where Pooran really exploded. Playing for MI New York in the showpiece final at Grand Prairie Stadium, the Caribbean superstar delivered arguably one the finest batting performances in T20 history.
The Texas crowd were treated to a batting exhibition that yielded 137 not out off 55 balls, which was studded with 13 sixes and a hundred that arrived after just 40 balls.
This was no one-off performance either, with Pooran taking his franchise form to the international stage where his X-factor innings almost single-handedly powered the West Indies to a T20I series victory over India in August 2023.
The DSG supporters were already treated to some Calypso Cricket in Betway SA20 Season 1 when Kyle Mayers peppered the West Street Stand with some towering sixes, but they can now expect even more exhilarating ball striking from Pooran.
