Kieron Pollard, Lendl Simmons to arrive in time for Mumbai Indians season opener

Two of the big overseas names of the Mumbai Indians roster, Kieron Pollard and Lendl Simmons, are set to arrive on time for the season opener of their franchise in IPL 10. Mumbai Indians will be playing Rising Pune Supergiant in their first match on April 6 at Pune. Earlier, there were clouds over the participation of the West Indies players for the first game because of their current participation in the ongoing West Indies v Pakistan T20I series.

As per the reports in the Indian Express, a MI spokesperson has confirmed their arrival on time for the match now. He quoted that both players will arrive in Mumbai on April 4, and then join the team on April 5 at Pune. Both players have been power performers for the men in blue over the years. While Kieron Pollard has been a big name for the franchise ever since the early editions of the tournament, Simmons exploded with the bat in the 2015 edition of the tournament.

He aggregated 540 runs at an average close to 45 in the 2015 edition that saw Mumbai Indians clinch the IPL trophy for the second time. Last year, Simmons played just one match before being ruled out of the remaining fixtures due to a back injury. On the other hand, Kieron Pollard featured in the majority of the matches for the team last year but largely underperformed. He could score just 207 runs in 13 matches.

“Pollard and Simmons will reach Mumbai on April 4 and join the team in Pune on April 5 for pre-match training,” the official spokesperson of MI quoted.

Talking about the participation of their Sri Lankan overseas powerhouses – Lasith Malinga and Asela Gunaratne – the spokesperson noted that they are yet to receive a word on their participation for the first match. Sri Lanka are currently playing Bangladesh in an international series which concludes on April 6. Most probably, the two Sri Lankans will join the team on April 7.

“We have no word yet actually from the Sri Lanka board but most likely they will finish the Bangladesh series – with the last match scheduled on 6th April – and join the team on the 7th in Mumbai,” the spokesperson confirmed.