West Indies white-ball captain Kieron Pollard wants to return smiles to devoted fans of the regional side and even the cynical ones.
Pollard, who celebrated his 33rd birthday on Tuesday, was made captain of the regional team last year and speaking on his role for the regional outfit, said: "When I first got the call, I thought to myself, that is a big challenge and I wondered how it will play out. As I do most situations, I decided to play it by air, play it how I see it, take it in stride.
"I told myself I am just going to go out there to perform to my best for my team so that we can win. I just want to bring back the smiles on the faces of the die-hard West Indies fans as well as the and negative fans. Those who are negative about the West Indies and even those who are negative about Kieron Pollard."
The T&T-born allrounder started his leadership role in India with the Indians winning the One Day International (ODI) series 2-0 with one match called off and also taking the Twenty20 (T20) series, 3-0.
It was then home against Ireland, where the Windies won the three ODI matches and the T20 series was drawn 1-1 with one game rained off.
Next was a tour to Sri Lanka where the West Indies after narrowly losing the first ODI by one wicket, went on to lose the other two matches. The Caribbean men, however, rebounded by taking the T20 series, 2-0.
Overall, Pollard has played 113 ODI matches, scoring 2,496 runs at an average of 26.00. He has also taken 53 wickets at an average of 39.71. In T20 matches, he has appeared in 72 matches scoring 1,123 runs at an average of 23.39. His 35 wickets have come at a cost of 26.25 each.
With the current COVID-19 pandemic causing lockdowns around the world, he has enjoyed his time away from the game with his young family.
"The time home has been good. You know as cricketers travelling the world sometimes we ask for time to be home. We have gotten that time now and even more than expected but it has been good.
"I have never spent so much time home in recent years. A couple of years ago, I would have been injured so I was home but still, I was up and down doing therapy and stuff but this time around, I am locked in sometimes for three straight days," said Pollard, who next assignment will be against South Africa and New Zealand as they are both due to tour the region but those tours are in jeopardy because of the coronavirus.