Kieron Pollard in action (Image: IPLT20.com)
Former New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori believes that Mumbai Indians‘ (MI) batter Kieron Pollard did not pace his innings well against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). He suggested that the seasoned campaigner did not show enough intent while batting in their IPL 2022 match on Sunday, 24 April.
Rohit Sharma‘s side were chasing a total of 168 against LSG at the Wankhede Stadium. Their batting let them down on yet another occasion in IPL 2022 and they fell short by 36 runs in the end.
Pollard managed 19 runs from 20 deliveries and wasn’t able to get going during the run-chase.
Speaking on ESPNcricinfo, Vettori mentioned how Pollard has won many such games for his side with his pyrotechnics. However, he feels that these things don’t click all the time, especially when the team has been on a losing streak.
He explained:
“The belief that Kieron Pollard could just walk out and miraculously chase down 12-14 an over when you’ve lost 7 games in a row, those things are not going to come together. You’ve got to acknowledge that LSG did bowl well and they executed their strategies well.”
He added:
“When Pollard comes to the crease, everyone has the same sort of plans, but to execute them is not easy. But in the end, it looked like he just had no intent. It looked like he was going to wait till the last minute to try and get the runs,”
On the same show, Imran Tahir opined that while Pollard has been Mumbai’s go-to guy during such situations, he has struggled with his form this season. He further added that the right-hander didn’t look confident in his approach against LSG, which ultimately cost his side the match.
Tahir stated:
“I wouldn’t say Pollard’s innings was poor. He tried but he could not hit the ball well. That’s not the Pollard that we’ve been watching over the years. He is the perfect guy for such situations. But unfortunately he just didn’t look confident. The team losing 7 games and then coming into the 8th game under pressure, so everything in it happened to him today,”
It is worth mentioning that the five-time champions now have all of their first eight matches in this year’s cash-rich league.
“You don’t often see an opener score 8 runs off 20 balls” Daniel Vettori on MI opener Ishan Kishan
Vettori pointed out that Ishan Kishan failed to provide Mumbai with a brisk start yet again. He highlighted how the talented left-hander hasn’t understood his role well and has often looked confused regarding it. Kishan could only manage eight runs in yet another poor performance this season.
The 43-year-old stated that only skipper Rohit Sharma (39 of 31) batted aggressively in the contest. He also opined that the middle-order batters didn’t take enough responsibility after his dismissal and didn’t try and up the ante.
Vettori added:
“The only excepetion for Mumbai Indians this innings was Rohit Sharma. He understood that he needs to be aggressive. Ishan Kishan struggled a lot and you don’t often see an opener score 8 off 20. He is incredibly confused about his role. Nobody seemed to want to take the game on in the middle-overs.”
The Mumbai-based will next be seen in action on Saturday (April 30) against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the 44th match of the season.
