IPL 10: We can't go and win each game, says Kieron Pollard

Mumbai Indians all-rounder Kieron Pollard had almost steered his side to a win against the Kings XI Punjab in the final home game for MI at the Wankhede. Going into Match 51 of the cash-rich Indian Premier league, Mumbai Indians were considered as the favorites against the KXIP. However, Punjab rose to the occasion at the exact point in time to keep themselves alive in the race for the playoffs. MI fell seven runs short while chasing the gigantic total of 230 put forth by Punjab which is also the highest team total of the season.

Nevertheless, KXIP had to sweat it out in the middle to beat the table toppers who almost went through the humungous total. Punjab went guns blazing pretty quickly with Martin Guptill getting a new partner in the form of Saha. In less than 4 overs, they already had a score of 50 plus on the board. Wriddhiman Saha ended up as the top-scorer in the game with an unbeaten 93 off just 55 deliveries while skipper Glenn Maxwell played a cameo with a 21-ball 47-run knock.

Mumbai as always had a flying start to their inning as their openers Parthiv Patel and Lendl Simmons thrashed the bowlers all around the park. However, wickets at regular intervals kept the away side in the hunt. But Kieron Pollard and Hardik Pandya got MI back in business with a 55-run stand in just 21 deliveries.

At the end, though their show went in vain, as the pacer Mohit Sharma held his nerves to clinch a last over thriller for KXIP. Pollard ended up scoring a brilliant 50 off 30 balls only to see his team lose by seven runs. Talking in an interview to IPLT20.com, Pollard spoke at length about the game.

“You know I think so it was a very good wicket, as you can see a lot of runs were scored. I also think it was a very good cricket match as well. In T20 cricket, when a side scores 230, most often than not you don’t give yourself a chance. So I think we [Mumbai Indians] were very good to get as close as possible and overall so very good game of cricket,” Pollard explained.

When asked about MI’s loss after a series of wins, he said, “Just proved that we’re humans, we can’t go and win each and every game. But as I said we keep improving, we had a, you know, dismal performance against Sunrisers. And I think we bounced back pretty well. There is no need to panic, you know in life there is always someone else worse off than you, so for us, we should keep our heads high, we have qualified.”

Pollard talks about the game-changing moments

The Caribbean who almost took his team through has a view that such pressure situations are what a player prepares for. “These are the moments that you practice for. This is what professional sport and cricket is all about. For us, you know once in the middle the pressure is not that hard as actually watching it. You know for me, I was actually in the middle so it was pretty easy,” he said.

“You have a job to do and try to do that job to the best of your ability,” Kieron Pollard concluded.