After 189 video games for Mumbai Indians, Kieron Pollard appears to have run his IPL race. On Thursday, the Trinidadian made means for 21-year-old South African Tristan Stubbs for MI’s recreation in opposition to Chennai Super Kings, as captain Rohit Sharma spoke in regards to the future on the toss. Pollard turned 35 right this moment.
Toss presenter Simon Doull requested Rohit if it was powerful to convey the message to Pollard. “It was tough. But he (Pollard) accepted it. We made a couple of changes – Hrithik Shokeen for Murugan Ashwin was the other change – and one was with an eye to the future,” the MI skipper mentioned.
MI, already out of the playoffs race, could have two extra group league matches remaining after this and Pollard may nonetheless have a send-off. But the writing seems to be on the wall.
Over the years, Pollard has been immense for the franchise, one of many bona fide MI legends. Since making his IPL debut in 2010, he has made 189 appearances, scoring 3,412 runs at a strike charge of 147.32 and claiming 69 wickets together with his light medium tempo. Last yr additionally, the five-time champions had failed to succeed in the playoffs and Pollard had a mean outing – 245 runs from 14 matches. So, when the franchise retained him for Rs 6 crore forward of the mega public sale this yr, eyebrows have been raised. MI, although, rewarded loyalty and the participant’s pedigree, however the ongoing season turned out to be worse for the massive man – 144 runs from 11 video games – together with his crew languishing on the foot of the desk.
As Rohit offered the MI cap to Stubbs on the crew huddle earlier than the beginning of the match, Pollard was jovial, chatting and having amusing. He just lately retired from worldwide cricket and it must be seen if he has an IPL future past this season.
‘Difficult to replace Jadeja’
Meanwhile, CSK captain MS Dhoni was requested about Ravindra Jadeja’s absence on the toss and he spoke about how Jadeja’s all-round capability allowed the crew administration to go together with completely different mixtures. “Also, his fielding… It’s difficult to replace Jadeja,” Dhoni mentioned.
CSK launched Jadeja after a rib harm dominated him out of the remainder of the IPL.