Former West Indies captain Kieron Pollard has expressed shock and disappointment with the team’s early exit from the ongoing T20 World Cup 2022, stating all the stakeholders must share the blame.

Notably, the two-times champion West Indies failed to qualify for the Super 12 stage of the multi-team tournament after facing defeats against Scotland and Ireland in the first round.

“A bit surprised, to be honest, that [West Indies] weren’t able to get over the line against the other teams. But again, that speaks volumes of where our cricket as is at the moment. I feel it. I feel it for the guys because they are the ones that are going to get the bashing. And it’s not all their fault,” said Pollard at i95.5fm, a Trinidadian radio station.

While the experts and fans criticised Nicholas Pooran and his troops for their below-average performance, Pollard had a different opinion. He reckoned that selections played a major role in their miserable show at the 2021 T20 World Cup as well, where he was the captain, a similar thing happened this year as well.

“We have a young captain, we have young players, guys who would have played only a handful of (matches in) T20 cricket, and now they are in the World Cup. And when I look back at it, I sit back, and I have a smile on my face. Because I remember some of the things that was said last year around this time when some individuals weren’t selected. I just had to remind these people that there was a World Cup we were going to (in 2021) and another bilateral series (in New Zealand). And now some of the individuals get the opportunity to play in the World Cup. And, again, look what has happened. It’s no fault of theirs,” he added.