West Indies all-rounder Kieron Pollard turned 34 on Wednesday (May 12). Pollard's IPL franchise Mumbai Indians (MI) posted a special video for him in which his teammates talked about his match-winning performance against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the IPL 2021.
Pollard had smashed an unbeaten knock of 87 runs as MI chased down 219 runs in 20 overs. CSK had piled up a total of 218/4 and the Caribbean cricketer bagged two wickets with the ball. He then continued his good show in the second innings as well to smash 8 sixes and 6 fours as Mumbai won the match by 4 wickets.
MI pacer Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult lauded Pollard for his outstanding batting against CSK. Even the bowling coach Shane Bond and Pollard himself features in the video on Instagram.
"When Polly speaks, people listen. He brings out the best of himself in difficult situations. On his birthday, the #MI camp, including the big man himself, share their thoughts on that @kieron.pollard55 performance against CSK," wrote Mumbai Indians.
MI needed 2 runs off the last ball to win the match and Boult recalled Bumrah had told him there would be a super over. "Boom was talking about a super over. And I said there wasn't going to be a super over. He said there was. So, a good feeling for it to happen in regulation play. And get the win done. But there was some good emotion from everyone in the whole camp. And it was nice to be on the right side of the result," Boult said.
Boult further spoke about the memorable run-chase by Pollard. "He is a very strong lad, very experienced. And in that situation, I could not think of a better player to be out there and try to get it done for the boys. Yeah, pretty special innings. 87 not out off 34 balls, you don't hear it often. So, it was very special to be watching it."
Bond revealed that he did not believe that they would somehow manage to win the match. "In my own mind, we had no chance of winning that game. Until it got closer and closer. That's probably one of the great wins. I think what makes it so special is the quality of innings from Polly himself," Bond said.
Pollard was more impressed with his bowling than the runs scored in the chase. "Someone needed to stand up. And yeah, it was a good day for me, all-round from a cricketing point of view. Despite scoring all the runs, I think I was most impressed by my two wickets while bowling," he added.
"It was his day. Even if he would have bowled leg-spin, he would have taken wickets. He bowled very well, he had a great day on the field, with the bat he was awesome. And he has done it in the past as well. So, you always back the big man," Bumrah said in the video.
