IPL 2021: “Difficult to adjust on this Chennai pitch” – MI's Kieron Pollard

After guiding Mumbai Indians (MI) to their second win in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021, all-rounder Kieron Pollard highlighted the difficulty in batting on the Chennai strip that has produced low-scoring thrillers so far.

Kieron Pollard smashed an unbeaten 22-ball 35 to help the defending champions reach 150 against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Match 9 of the tournament. His knock proved to be decisive as MI pulled off a 13-run win.

Coming into bat in the 14th over with the team score on 98, Kieron Pollard initially struggled to read Rashid Khan’s variations and got used to the slow nature of the surface. It took him 13 balls to get his strike rate to a run a ball, but Pollard eventually capitalised on the final over from Bhuvneshwar Kumar, where he smashed sixes off the final two balls.

“We have to find a way, and again in the back end, getting those extra runs helped us. It’s very difficult to adjust on this pitch when you only have a couple of balls, but that’s what we train for. You have to decide your strong areas (on such pitches) and see what you can do. We have to find ways. It’s good when you scrap the victories; it gives you confidence,” said Kieron Pollard after winning the Player of the Match award.

The surfaces at Chennai have produced low-scoring games, and Mumbai have featured in three of them. Successfully defending consecutive low scores, MI almost pulled it off against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) as well in the tournament opener.

On being asked how the team management decided on the batting order between him, Hardik Pandya and Krunal Pandya, the Trinidadian said:

“The situation of the game (dictates the batting order). We always have to be padded up. There’s no secret.”

Kieron Pollard gets the Man of the Match award for his knock of 35* as #MumbaiIndians win by 13 runs against #SRH.#VIVOIPL pic.twitter.com/dlyyog6PIs

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 17, 2021

Happy to do my job with the ball for Mumbai Indians: Kieron Pollard

Playing his 12th season for the Mumbai Indians, Kieron Pollard, once regarded as a genuine all-rounder, played a critical role with the ball on Saturday. With the SRH batters going after the bowling, the big West Indian came and bowled two overs of medium pace, giving away just 10 runs.

“When it’s coming out nicely, you want to bowl another one, but what the team needs at the moment is you need the main bowlers. Just happy to do my job there,” Kieron Pollard added.

Kieron Pollard was the Player of the Tournament in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) 2020. In the tournament final, he picked up four wickets for the Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR), leading them to another title win.

Paltan, your Man of the Match, @KieronPollard55! 💙Gigantic sixes, stunning efforts on the field, bowling slower ones...is there anything the Big Man cannot do? 😉#OneFamily #MumbaiIndians #MI #MIvSRH #IPL2021 pic.twitter.com/Nd8F4SNSE2

— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) April 17, 2021