NEW DELHI: West Indies' star wicketkeeper-batsman Nicholas Pooran on Thursday acknowledged that playing for a Mumbai Indians franchise comes with a ‘lot of pressure'.
"It's a wonderful experience being a part of a Mumbai franchise. They've been around T20 cricket for almost a decade now and everyone knows that Mumbai is probably one of the best franchises,” Pooran said.
“It's all about taking up a challenge. As a group, we try our best to be as successful as possible. And with that there's a lot of planning,” he said.
“Yes, there's a lot of pressure playing (and) representing Mumbai. But I know that that's the beauty about it as well. Players accept that challenge. We as a group are ready for this tournament. We're excited and we want to be successful, but we know it's gonna be difficult,” he said.
Pooran underlined the importance of working hard to be successful in a tournament like the ILT20
“Everyone keeps talking about the superstars in this tournament, the world-class players and it's not gonna be easy, (but) if you want to be successful in this tournament we have to work really hard,” Pooran added.
Australia's Chris Lynn, who attended the conference in place of James Vince, the regular Gulf Giants captain, said it will be important for them to emulate their last year's performance.
“I'm sitting here in place of James Vince. He led the side well last year, coach Andy Flower wherever he goes he seems to lift the trophies.
We have not changed too much. Our method and blue print worked last year, so it is all about executing all of that again,” he said.
Sam Billings, who has been named the vice-captain for the Dubai Capitals, said the tournament was important for those who are vying for a place in their respective national teams for the T20 World Cup later this year.
“It's important for everyone. We're judged by performances and there's so much cricket now, so situations can change pretty rapidly,” Billings said.
“There's a lot of players in this competition that want to put the case forward to playing in that World Cup,” he added.
Sunil Narine, the captain of the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders, said he was hopeful of his team bringing in their lessons from last year.
“We learned from last year. The ultimate goal is to win the tournament and lift the trophy. The process is the main thing, we have to start from game one,” Narine added.
New Zealand's Colin Munro, who will captain Desert Vipers, said he was looking forward to using the experience of Pakistan superstars as the franchise looks to add to its global fan base.
“As a leader in the group Shaheen (Shah Afridi), Shadab (Khan), even (Mohammed) Amir has come in… for me as a captain to have that leadership in and around us is outstanding for us," he said.
Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar, who is the brand ambassador of the ILT20, said he was glad to have not been playing in this era anymore.
“They are all superstars. I'm glad I was not born in this era, Lynn would have murdered me easily. Narine would have got me out in a heartbeat. In this day and age the people are just like smacking all over the park and I can't see myself playing nowadays,” he said.
