Pollard shrugs off favourites tag heaped on WI

Kieron Pollard has shrugged off the favourites tag being heaped on the West Indies side preparing for the ICC Twenty 20 World Cup in Sir Lanka later this month. The big hitting all-rounder says being labelled as favourites would only put the West Indies players under a certain amount of pressure going into the tournament, reports CMC. Pollard, a T20 specialist and one of the world’s most valuable cricketers, said it’s only performance on the field of play that counts. “We have a very good team and a lot of people are saying we are favourites. But you know when you are favourites it comes with a pressure tag as well,” said Pollard, part of a 15-man squad involved in final preparations at the High Performance Centre at UWI, Cave Hill, Barbados. “But you know hopefully names on paper comes for nothing. It is performance in the field. So it’s a matter of putting all what you have practiced into play.” Pollard’s comments follow similar statements from the West Indies captain Darren Sammy earlier this week playing down the favourites tag. Windies are currently fifth in the ICC T20 rankings, below South Africa, England, Sri Lanka and India. The likes of New Zealand skipper Ross Taylor, Australia all-rounder Shane Watson and former India captain Sourav Ganguly have publicly lauded Darren Sammy’s men as one of the favourites to win the World Twenty20. “Twenty 20 is about who does the basics right,” said Pollard.