ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (CMC) – West Indies captain Kieron Pollard has confirmed he has no plans to follow teammate Dwayne Bravo into international retirement.

Bravo, 38, on Thursday announced his intention to end his West Indies career following the conclusion of the Twenty20 World Cup.

The reigning champions saw their title defence implode with a 20-run defeat to Sri Lanka on Thursday, but Pollard said despite the failed title defence, there was no reason to quit.

“I don’t set personal goals for personal glory. I play cricket to win cricket matches each and every time, and we came to the World Cup to win and we have not done that,” said the 34-year-old Pollard, a veteran of 92 T20 Internationals.

“As I stand right now, I have no intentions of not playing international cricket. One tournament or a couple bad games don’t make a summer.

“For me personally, there’s a lot of mileage in my legs than another individual. There are people in different scenarios who make decisions and I can’t. When it comes to that question, I can’t make that decision.

“But again, we have a tendency as soon as things go badly, the easiest thing for us to do is look for things to blame and chop and change and do different things. But we accept that. I accept that. I take it on the chin.

“Sometimes you have to absorb the pressure before you apply but personally as an individual, I have played a lot of good cricket in the last 18 months or two years or so. So three or four games [are] not going to lead to Kieron pulling out, I’m sorry.”

Like the entire batting group, Pollard has struggled during the tournament with just 46 runs from his four innings and a strike rate of 86.

He averages only 19.80 this year and has managed only a single half-century – an unbeaten 51 against South Africa last July.

Still one of the most sought after T20 batsmen on the global franchise circuit with 572 T20s under his belt, Pollard said his aim was to continue improving as a cricketer.

“For me, again, I’ve just evolved [over time]. I try to evolve as a cricketer every time. I try to improve, try to get better,” he pointed out.

“You have good times, you have bad times but what I can safely say is once you play T20 cricket, you’re going to perform but you have to make sure when you are performing, you make it go for a long stretch. That’s what I’ve done.

“Sometimes the road is not always straight and it’s not always smooth. You take the bumps, take the hills and you come back stronger. I’ve been given a talent by the higher being – the Almighty – and I try to execute it every time.

“[I’ve gotten] an opportunity to lead the people of the Caribbean, and you know, again, I’ve just tried to do it to the best of my ability and accept whatever comes.

“When things are going good, we smile and we’re happy and when things are going bad, you still have to smile and be happy because you still have an opportunity tomorrow to make a difference once you have life.”

He added: “Personally, I think I’m just trying to do justice to what talent I’ve been given. I might have failed or succeeded at different things but once I have that strength, I’m going to continue.”