Is Pollard in the thick of things at Mumbai Indians?

He was one of the four players retained by the franchise before the mega-auctions of this edition. Though the team successively retained or brought back their power hitters in the form of Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan and Kieron Pollard, the team failed to get back their strength in the form of bowlers. They only have Jasprit Bumrah as the leading bowler from the previous edition. This leaves the team with an inexperienced bowling line-up and is seen to affect their performance.

Kieron Pollard - the symbol of Mumbai Indians’ strength

To make up for the inexperienced squad, Mumbai Indians must use all of their experience in the team on-field. An all-rounder like Kieron Pollard, who has been the major contributor and has played every season since 2010, should be utilized fully by team management. He has played 164 innings to score a mammoth of 3315 runs at the strike rate of 149.46 in all the seasons.

Utilizing the best at the right moment

In the match against Kolkata Knight Rider, Pollard scored 22 off five balls, helping the team post a challenging total of 160. With such a good strike rate and power-hitting capabilities, he comes down to bat at number 5, leaving the player with limited scope to hit big runs. While the team struggles in the upper middle-order, he should be sent to bat early and fetch runs to put opposition bowlers under pressure. His power-hitting capabilities can change the game at any point of time through his splendid bat. However, he has scored just 47 runs in four games so far, whereas he keeps the strength to accelerate the score on the scoreboard.

Aakash Chopra said, “If a player like Pollard can be so destructive, then he needs to be sent up the order. Make use of his abilities. I think he is being underutilized. If you don’t trust him to play six overs, then why play him? If you trust him, then please give him six overs to bat and send him in front of Wanindu, Harshal and Siraj,”.

“He has the ability to change games. When he comes to bat in the middle-overs, captains have to change their thinking, and they need to bring their strike bowlers, and then those who bat at the end can explode,” he further added. 

The experienced option of 5th bowler

Apart from bat, he has added value to the bowling unit by scalping 66 wickets in 103 innings at an economy of 8.82. He contributes in middle-overs with the ball, which give other main bowlers a breather for death overs. But again, he has been given mere seven overs in 4 matches with the ball, in which he struck only one wicket. Not getting enough overs even when the complete bowling unit is struggling looks like an underutilization of his presence as an experienced all-rounder.

Too good on the field, saving runs.

He also makes up for being a fantastic fielder. His height enables him to take some terrific catches at the boundary. His efforts in the outfield, be it the close-in position or boundary line, attract maximum eyeballs. But recently, he seems to be placed at different positions on the field, which raises many questions about the team’s strategy to fit in an experienced player like him with the new players.

Kieron Pollard has been a symbol of strength for Mumbai Indians for a long time, and still, every team keeps a special game-plan in mind whenever they have to face Mumbai Indians. Being such an important aspect, he has to be utilized and made to lead from the front. In today’s match against Punjab Kings, fans will be looking forward to seeing their Mumbai Paltan win their first match and Kieron Pollard being the lead contributor.