The Mumbai Indians’ (MI) troubles in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 season have been extensively documented. The five-time champions had only two wins in ten games this season, and they are sitting at the bottom of the standings, with their playoff aspirations shattered.
While the performance of their openers and their failing bowling attack have been major issues for MI this season, Rohit Sharma and his teammates have also been hurt by Kieron Pollard’s poor form. Pollard has been terrible, failing to make an impact for his club with both the bat and the ball.
The West Indies all-rounder, who has been one of MI’s longest serving players and has only played for the five-time champions in his IPL career, has not scored and has bowled on occasion. After coming out to bat at number 5, Pollard only managed 4 runs off 14 balls in MI’s last game against Gujarat Titans on Friday.
Pollard’s inability to rotate the strike may have lost MI the game if it hadn’t been for Tim David’s quickfire 44 off 21 balls. MI scored 177 runs in 20 overs, winning by 5 runs for their second win of the season, thanks to David’s cameo. In the midst of Pollard’s bad form, former India cricketer Aakash Chopra has staked a claim on the all-future rounder’s for the rest of the season.
“Tilak Varma got run out but before that Kieron Pollard got out. That’s an interesting one, I feel Kieron Pollard will not play any further this year, that’s it, they won’t play him anymore because Dewald Brevis is sitting outside and Tim David is doing well,” said Chopra.
“Don’t know why they didn’t play a punt on Tim David earlier. They had kept this six-hitting machine sitting outside for a long time. Now they have remembered that they should play him and he has not disappointed them even once since they have played him, match-winning knocks coming at the end,” he added.
Pollard has only achieved 129 runs in ten IPL 2022 matches, with an average of 14.33 and a strike rate of just 109.32. With the Mumbai Indians officially out of the playoff race, it’s unclear whether the five-time champions will dismiss the West Indies mainstay in favour of others in the roster.
