Kieron Pollard fell into the trap laid out by the Chennai Super Kings [P./C: iplt20.com]
Irfan Pathan believes Kieron Pollard‘s ego probably led to his dismissal in last night’s IPL 2022 clash between the Mumbai Indians (MI) and the Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
Pollard scored 14 runs, including a four and a six, before falling prey to Maheesh Theekshana. The big-hitting Trinidadian hit the Sri Lankan mystery spinner straight down the throat of Shivam Dube, who was specifically placed next to the sightscreen for that particular shot.
During a discussion on Star Sports, Irfan Pathan was asked about Kieron Pollard’s dismissal. He responded:
“His (Pollard’s) strength is always to hit straight down the ground. Because of that, the fielder is placed straight. He is asked to hit across but he doesn’t agree, he also looks to hit straight. To a certain extent, you are not able to keep your ego aside.”
While highlighting that Kieron Pollard fell into CSK’s trap, the former India all-rounder did acknowledge that the recently retired West Indian limited-overs skipper is known to clear the fielders placed on the boundary line. Pathan said:
“The bigger the player you become, the more you play, the more matches you win, you think – ‘You have laid a trap and I will show my strength’. He tries to show his strength, tries to hit straight down the ground and loses his wicket. But probably his thinking is that he hits sixes when the fielder is placed at long-on or long-off, so he can hit here as well.”
Pollard fell prey to a peculiar field position set by MS Dhoni in the IPL 2010 final as well. The MI all-rounder hit Albie Morkel straight to Matthew Hayden, who was placed at straightish mid-off on that occasion.
“This has been going on for many years” – Piyush Chawla on Kieron Pollard’s dismissal
Kieron Pollard has had a poor IPL 2022 thus far [P./C: iplt20.com]
Piyush Chawla was also asked about the unconventional field set for Pollard. He responded:
“The way the field was set, it is not that it was set like that today for the first time. This has been going on for many years. It’s just that he hasn’t been dismissed there for the last few years.”
The former India leg-spinner added that such field settings don’t matter to Pollard if he middles the ball, which he failed to do this time around. Chawla observed:
“But today he felt that the ball was in his area and always it happens that if the ball hits the middle of the bat, it doesn’t matter even if the fielder is there but this time, it went straight into the hands and Kieron Pollard had to pay for it.”
Pollard’s dismissal reduced the Mumbai Indians to a score of 111/6 in the 17th over. Although they still managed to post 155 runs on the board, CSK overhauled the target, with Dhoni hitting 16 runs off the last four deliveries.
