Pooran pleased with Warriors batting after headaches

– Hemraj happy to carry on

By Brandon Corlette

Fresh from a thumping nine-wicket win against Barbados Royals, Guyana Amazon Warriors are riding high on confidence in the 2021 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL), and will again meet the Royals on Tuesday at 19:00h.
Captain Nicholas Pooran said he was pleased with the batting efforts of his team after headaches earlier in the tournament.

At the post-match interview, Pooran said: “I am very pleased. I had a lot of headaches with the batting positions and we just told our guys to win games for us. Pleased with how we batted. We felt like, after watching the first game, that the pacers were expensive. We just continued with Imran Tahir for his second over and it worked for us. Very happy with the way the guys came out and executed our plans. Always focused on getting a start. We won the game in 13 overs and [I’m] very happy.”
Meanwhile, Player of the Match Chandrapaul Hemraj described his maiden century as unbelievable. The left-handed batsman slammed an unbeaten 105 from 56 balls, decorated with 14 fours and five sixes, in a chase of 131.

“First of all, I want to thank God. I have been getting starts and happy to have carried on. I am happy to have played some cricket coming into the tournament and I want to thank my trainer. I feel confident, much stronger, much fitter. It’s an unbelievable pitch. I was batting with Shoaib [Malik], who was calming me down with his experience. Big shout-out to the people who support me,” Hemraj said.
Captain of the Barbados Royals, Jason Holder will have a lot to ponder as his team take on the Warriors on Tuesday. He lamented the lack of momentum his team had while batting. “The first game (Kings v Patriots) was a high-scoring game. We never got any momentum. In all the games we have struggled with the bat.

“Trying to defend 120-130 is a tough task and we need to find a way to put runs on the board. The surface is uneven, some of the balls grip. Ashley [Nurse] bowled well for us. We need to find a way to put more runs on the board and play a complete game. It is tough to ask the bowlers to win us games every time. In this tournament, one batsman has been around all innings as an anchor and we need to do that as well. A top knock from Hemraj. A very positive innings from him and he took the game away from us,” Holder added.
Barbados Royals squad: Johnson Charles; Shai Hope; Smit Patel; Glenn Phillips; Azam Khan(wicketkeeper); Jason Holder(Captain); Raymon Reifer; Nyeem Young; Ashley Nurse; Jake Lintott; Oshane Thomas; Mohammad Amir; Thisara Perera; Justin Greaves; Kyle Mayers; Hayden Walsh; and Joshua Bishop.
Guyana Amazon Warriors squad: Chandrapaul Hemraj; Mohammad Hafeez; Shoaib Malik; Shimron Hetmyer; Brandon King; Nicholas Pooran(wicketkeeper/captain); Romario Shepherd; Odean Smith; Naveen-ul-Haq; Gudakesh Motie; Imran Tahir; Anthony Bramble; Ashmead Nedd; Kevin Sinclair and Nial Smith.