Lucknow Super Giants defeated Mumbai Indians by 36 runs in the IPL 2022 clash at the Wankhede Stadium
Former New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori believes that Mumbai Indians’ batter Kieron Pollard did not pace his innings well against the Lucknow Super Giants.
He suggested that the seasoned campaigner did not show enough intent while batting in their IPL 2022 match on Sunday, 24 April.
Chasing a target of 169, MI got off to a good start but kept on losing wickets at regular intervals, and were restricted to 132 for 8. Rohit Sharma top-scored for MI with a 39-run knock at the top of the order.
Pollard managed 19 runs from 20 deliveries and wasn’t able to get going during the run-chase.
76 required from 36.#OneFamily #DilKholKe #MumbaiIndians #LSGvMI @KieronPollard55 @TilakV9 pic.twitter.com/ppxOsAtYoR
— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) April 24, 2022
Speaking on ESPNcricinfo, Vettori mentioned how Pollard has won many such games for his side with his pyrotechnics. However, he feels that these things don’t click all the time, especially when the team has been on a losing streak.
“The belief that Kieron Pollard could just walk out and miraculously chase down 12-14 an over when you’ve lost 7 games in a row, those things are not going to come together. You’ve got to acknowledge that LSG did bowl well and they executed their strategies well.” He explained
“When Pollard comes to the crease, everyone has the same sort of plans, but to execute them is not easy. But in the end, it looked like he just had no intent. It looked like he was going to wait till the last minute to try and get the runs,” He added
On the same show, Imran Tahir opined that while Pollard has been Mumbai’s go-to guy during such situations, he has struggled with his form this season.
He further added that the right-hander didn’t look confident in his approach against LSG, which ultimately cost his side the match.
“I wouldn’t say Pollard’s innings was poor. He tried but he could not hit the ball well. That’s not the Pollard that we’ve been watching over the years. He is the perfect guy for such situations. But unfortunately he just didn’t look confident. The team losing 7 games and then coming into the 8th game under pressure, so everything in it happened to him today,” Tahir said