MI's young guns hailed batting coach Kieron Pollard ahead of the IPL 16.
Former West Indies captain Kieron Pollard is all set to start his new inning in the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023, for which he has already joined the Mumbai Indians (MI) camp as their new batting coach.
Ahead of the IPL 2023, starting on March 31, Pollard, who won the IPL trophy in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2020 with the MI, opened up about an important piece of advice he gave to his players.
Kieron Pollard said in a video shared by MI on Twitter: “I have told them don’t call me coach, call me Polly. Words really can’t describe the feeling of playing for Mumbai Indians and representing the people of Mumbai. They have done a lot for me as an individual.”
He added, “I guess I have done a lot for them from a player’s perspective, the bond we have I guess it’s more than just cricket matches and things like that. For me nothing will change, I’ll be the same sort of personality and character, around the guys.”
Meanwhile, MI’s young batter Tilak Verma opened up about Pollard’s transition from a player to coach in the same video.
He said: “Last year I was sharing a dressing room with him and this year I am very excited like he is now our batting coach.”
Punjab all-rounder Ramandeep Singh said of Pollard: “Whenever I was in trouble he was always there to guide me and he would like a big brother come to me with ideas that you can go with this plan.”
On the other hand, Hrithik Shokeen said about MI’s batting coach: “I used to bowl to him a lot during the nets, I was really missing him, I am going to tease him a little and call him ‘Coach’ sometimes.”
Dewald Brewis has also some words of praise for Pollard. Brewis signed off by saying, “Whenever I was in trouble he was always there to guide me and he would like a big brother to come to me with ideas that you can go with this plan.”
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Notably, MI will start their IPL 16 campaign against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on April 2.