Kieron Pollard retires, and the IPL will never be the same again

Imagine being at the Wankhede Stadium and watching the Mumbai Indians clash swords with an IPL rival; Kieron Pollard and several other stars are part of the MI squad. Rohit Sharma is opening. Maybe he is being partnered by Quinton de Kock, or Ishan Kishan. Suryakumar Yadav is then out in the middle, doing his thing, lapping fast-bowlers one minute and carving them over extra cover in another moment. Hardik Pandya, too, smashing the ball into the stands.

MI, for much of this stretch, are demolishing their opponents. The ball is flying to all parts of the ground, and the likes of de Kock, Hardik, Kishan, Rohit and Suryakumar have already given their fans their money’s worth. Yet, it still feels like the crowd wants something more.

Do they want a four? Na, had too many of those already. Do they want a six? Ah, maybe not. Do they want a wicket to fall then? Hmm….that might hamper MI but hey, that will bring Pollard to the crease, right?

The IPL has, over the years, thrown up so many narratives that you would’ve thought had no chance of coming to fruition. MS Dhoni, born and brought up in Ranchi, plying his trade as a Ticket Collector in the east, rocking up in Chennai and suddenly becoming the darling of a city. Some say he is the second-most popular figure in Chennai, only behind a certain Rajnikanth. Watch a game at Chepauk, and you’d know why.

AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle have a similar love story with the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Neither would have ever thought they will be loved as much on these shores, especially after being India’s kryptonite on several occasions. But here they were, being garlanded for every little thing they did while wearing the Royal Challengers Bangalore jersey.

Pollard, MI and Mumbai are pretty similar. And that is why, as the great man calls time on his IPL career, we must not only reminisce the raw match-winning ability that he brought to the fore, but also the beautiful relationship he had with those usually clad in the MI blue, and of course, the thousands who rode the traffic on Marine Drive, just to catch a glimpse of the herculean all-rounder.

For the past couple of years, Pollard has not been at his best anywhere in the world. There has been the odd glimpse of what he is capable of, but the regularity of the miracles he can produce has dwindled considerably. Last season, many earmarked his retention by MI as a possible factor in their dismal campaign. There was a bit of truth to it too, considering the players omitted were de Kock and Trent Boult.

But look at it from their perspective, and they simply could not let him go. He has probably been MI’s most vital cog since they started picking up trophies for fun at the turn of the previous decade. And, the amount of fear he creates amongst the opposition, is something very few players in the world can lay claim to.

It's almost as if people thought anything and everything was possible as long as Pollard was at the crease. That is not an exaggeration either. Quite a lot of times, he did do anything and everything you would hope for a cricketer to do. And on other days, he did anything and everything you thought a cricketer could never accomplish.

Most Chennai Super Kings fans would testify to this, having been subjected to several Pollard classics over the years. The moment they thought the game was won, the burly, West Indian came out to bat, almost smirking to himself how he and his team had been written off.

It was not as if other teams did not bear the brunt of Pollard’s. They did. But this article is not about the numbers he produced. Almost everyone following the IPL knew he was a champion cricketer who saved his best for the moments when MI needed him most. This is more about realising how a cricketer of his ilk might never come along in the IPL, and why the IPL, in his absence, will never be the same again.

Kieron Pollard's retirement has left a massive void in the IPL

Pollard’s retirement, coupled with AB de Villiers hanging up his boots, Suresh Raina not finding a suitor, and Gayle’s absence, means that a part of childhood for a generation of IPL fans is coming to an end. Those who tuned into the IPL in the past couple of years might wonder what all the fuss is about. Ask anyone who watched Pollard in his pomp, and the answer could not be more straightforward.

Even last season, when Pollard could not score as freely as he normally does, the MI fan base kept faith in him. He did not feature towards the end of the season but whenever he batted, it was almost as if a gladiator was making his way out to the middle. A gladiator who, lest we forget, had lost a few battles in 2022, but one who had owned several others in the 13 years he had been at that coliseum known as the Wankhede Stadium.

In a cute tribute video that MI released, current skipper Rohit described the all-rounder as a powerhouse, as someone with destructive capabilities, even dubbing him the Hulk. He also quipped that these words were enough to describe Pollard. It felt so apt because like the Hulk, he seemed, at times, a superhero. No one packed as much power as Polly and only a handful can lay claim to be as destructive as he was.

That very video also ends with Pollard asking everyone to keep believing because, well, that is what MI always did when he was at the crease. They could have needed 90 runs off the last five overs (like they once did in the IPL in 2021 against RCB), and you still thought it was possible. Only because that giant who wore 55 on his back (both metaphorically and literally) was around.

That’s a legacy very few can match, and very few can even dream of replicating. When he arrived at the IPL, he was this bruising batter who used to annihilate bowling attacks. By the time he left the IPL, he became this generational cricketer that people used to flock to watch at grounds near them. He became this monumental figure who generated more hype than Indians in Indian cities.

In fact, he became a part of the city of Mumbai and its culture, not just the Mumbai Indians squad. A part that, unless someone as charismatic and supremely talented as him walks in through the door, might never be recreated.