Trinbago Knight Riders have responded to last year’s failed campaign by signing Twenty20 mega stars Andre Russell and Nicholas Pooran for the upcoming edition of the Caribbean Premier League.Russell will join West Indies’ white-ball captain Kieron Pollard and his deputy Pooran at Trinbago Knight Riders to make the franchise a daunting prospect for opposing bowlers. Sunil Narine has also been retained by the franchise, making it a star-studded pre-draft core already. Notably, this will be the first time in the history of the CPL that Russell and Pollard will be playing together for the same franchise. Russell is currently playing for the other Knight Riders franchise - Kolkata - at the IPL in India.In April 2020, Russell had called the Jamaica Tallawahs the “weirdest” team he had ever played for, announcing that the 2020 season would be his last with the side. However, ahead of CPL 2021, he was retained by the franchise. He had a fairly ordinary season with Tallawahs in 2021, managing just 160 runs in ten innings to go with 11 wickets in 31.1 overs. He has now moved from his home franchise to Knight Riders.As for Pooran, he will reunite with his mentor Pollard after having captained Guyana Amazon Warriors to the semi-finals in the most recent CPL. Pollard and Narine aside, fast bowler Jayden Seales, left-arm fingerspinner Akeal Hosein and top-order batter Tion Webster were also retained by Knight Riders.
