West Indian batsman Nicholas Pooran has joined the Melbourne Stars for the start of the BBL season as cover for new signing Jonny Bairstow.The left-handed batsman will ply his trade for the Melbourne-based outfit for only six matches.Nicholas Pooran is currently in New Zealand with the West Indies squad for the T20I matches against the Black Caps. Following the end of the series in New Zealand, he will travel to Australia to play in the BBL for the very first time in his career.
He has not been named in West Indies’ Test squad but is likely to remain with the team after the T20 matches (November 27-30) to get some red-ball experience during the Test campaign. The Test series is scheduled to run until December 15. On the other hand, the new season of BBL is scheduled to start on December 10, meaning Nicholas Pooran will miss the initial stage of the tournament. Meanwhile, Melbourne Stars have confirmed Pooran will be available for six matches in December and January, joining English star Jonny Bairstow as the club’s second international signing. Pooran recently played alongside his Stars teammate Glenn Maxwell for Kings XI Punjab in IPL 2020. He finished the tournament with a strike rate of 165 and had made global headlines for a sensational bit of boundary-line fielding.
