West Indies Head Coach Daren Sammy believes more players could follow Nicholas Pooran in retiring from international cricket, despite remaining available for franchise cricket.

The 29-year-old left-hand batsman announced his departure from the team on social media on Monday. The Trinidadian leaves the Windies as their leading runs scorer in T20 cricket with over 2,200 runs as well as one of their top batsmen in the One-Day International format, though not making an appearance since 2023.

While many were shocked by his decision, Sammy felt it was imminent due to previous interactions.

“My instincts told me something like that would happen,” said Sammy. “Nicholas sent me a text message, and so did I have a conversation with his agent as well. When we first spoke about the UK [United Kingdom] tour and the conversation I had with him, I did ask him, ‘Are you unavailable for the UK tour only, or indefinite?’ And from that response, I just knew I had to start preparing for the worst case.”

Although disappointed with Pooran’s exit, Sammy says convincing him to stay would be pointless.

“I don’t control nor could I control anybody’s careers. I have a job to select from performance, from promise, from all these things and Nicholas — I mean he’ll be missed but it’s not a decision that I had control over,” he said.

“I mean, we had a couple conversations, I wished him well, he wished the team well and again it’s trying to move on now from planning a game plan without [him]. With a World Cup coming ahead, I think what I could see I respect the fact that he told us early enough so we could have more time to plan without him.”

Pooran joins countryman Sunil Narine who announced his international retirement before the World Cup in the Caribbean last year.

Sammy is expecting other active players to make similar decisions in the coming months.

“I am pretty sure more will follow in that direction. That is the way T20 cricket is now, and especially coming from the West Indies, with the challenges that we face trying to keep our players motivated to play for the crest, so I would not be surprised,” he said.

“It’s out of our control. I don’t think I’m in a position to say [Pooran] chose franchise — I think Nicholas Pooran is a professional with a responsibility to himself, to his family, to the people he represent. Like I said, ideally a talent like that I would love to have him in the team but I don’t control anybody’s career.”

In Pooran’s absence, the Windies were swept 0-3 by England in their T20 series. The Caribbean men are engaged in a three-match T20 series away to Ireland. The opening match on Thursday was rained out.

— Daniel Blake