At the end of 10 overs in the Mumbai Indians run chase against Kings XI Punjab on Wednesday, the scoreboard read 65/3. They needed 133 runs to win the match from there. Never before in the history of the Indian Premier League had those many runs been hit in the final 10 overs to successfully chase down a target. Never mind the slowdown in the KXIP innings after Chris Gayle got out, never mind the dew at the Wankhede Stadium; at that point in the match R Ashwin and KXIP would have felt pretty confident of pulling off a crucial win.
Kieron Pollard, however, had other ideas. His scintillating 31-ball 83 saw MI smash the most runs ever scored in the last 10 overs of a successful run chase in the IPL and complete a three-wicket win.
In what will go down as one of the most incredible displays of power-hitting (even by the high standards set in 2019 already by a certain Andre Russell), Pollard, the stand-in captain for the night, turned back the clock. And how.
The Gayle-Rahul show
When Rohit Sharma last missed an IPL match, he was still playing for Deccan Chargers. It’s been 11 years (and 133 consecutive matches for MI) since then that the Mumbaikar has been an ever-present force in the tournament.
In his (precautionary) absence, the responsibility of leading the side fell on the broad, capable shoulders of Pollard. His night, however, was not off to the best of starts as his fellow Caribbean superstar took centerstage. Chris Gayle once again took his time to get going, but when he did, the ball started disappearing into the crowd repeatedly. He swept, he drove, he punched off his backfoot – and the ball kept sailing past the boundary line down the ground. KL Rahul first played second fiddle to Gayle, then lost his timing briefly once the West Indies star was dismissed, but finished magnificently to put KXIP on the brink of 200. Rahul’s innings was marked by a fantastic final flourish, going from 64 to 100 in just 12 balls.
The momentum, so very important in T20s, was firmly with KXIP.
And it would largely remain with him even when the run-chase began. Makeshift opener Siddhesh Lad could not translate his fantastic start (six and four off the first two balls he faced on his IPL debut) into anything significant. Suryakumar Yadav and Quinton de Kock threatened to explode, but fell in their 20s.
The Kieron Pollard show
In the meanwhile, Pollard had pushed himself up the order to No 4. In the last two innings this season, he had batted at No 6 (against SRH) and No 7 (against CSK), remaining not out on both occasions as he showed glimpses of the form that made him one of the most feared IPL in his early years. When asked why he bats lower these days during the match against CSK, he was magnanimous enough to point out that the Pandya brothers have been striking the ball very well and it made sense to keep him lower down the order for cameos.
But, when he was the decision-maker against KXIP on Wednesday, he decided it was time to take matters into his own hands. He walked out at No 4 and from thereon, it was carnage.
At the end of the aforementioned 10-over mark in the run-chase, Pollard was batting on 3 off 5 balls. The strike-rate only kept soaring from that point on as he went on to score 80 runs off the next 26 balls he faced. Half of those 26 balls were boundaries – three fours and 10 sixes.
And as much as it sounds as if he went after every bowler, this innings was as methodical as it was brutal. The two KXIP bowlers who returned economical figures on the night were Mohammed Shami and Hardus Viljoen, and in the four overs they bowled in the second half of the run-chase, Pollard faced only four balls. He kept himself away from the dangermen and went after the rest. R Ashwin was not spared but Sam Curran was absolutely destroyed, as the English youngster conceded 47 runs from the 15 balls he bowled to Pollard.
At his best, Pollard always had the knack of sending even the mishits over the fence and that was on display at Wankhede, for the first time in a while. The 2018 edition saw him play just nine matches, for a return of 133 runs and a best score of 50. For the first time in his illustrious MI career, Pollard was seen as surplus to the sides requirements, getting dropped on more than one occasion.
While his 2019 did not get off to the best of starts either, Pollard was warming up. His cameo against CSK was crucial, he late flourish against SRH was match-defining and his innings against KXIP was a definitive sign that the big man was back to his best.
As it turned out, a captain promoted himself up the batting order for a tricky run-chase at the Wankhede on an April night and produced a masterclass. Pollard might not have finished the run chase off in style, but with his brute force, pulled off one of the best run chases in the league’s history.
When Rohit returns, he will obviously relinquish the captaincy but he made a strong case for why he should bat higher than he usually does. The original West Indies star finisher is back to doing what he does best – clear boundary lines with ridiculous ease.
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