Kieron Pollard was the one who came up to us and was ready to get dropped: Rohit Sharma

The two most successful teams in the Indian Premier League (IPL), Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Mumbai Indians (MI) face each other in the 59th game of the season. While the five-time champions are already knocked out of the tournament, the MS Dhoni-led is not in a great position either. Both teams were also missing their key players in Ravindra Jadeja and Suryakumar Yadav. However, MI surprised many with their decision to drop the veteran Kieron Pollard from this marquee game.

Rohit Sharma, the MI skipper, informed of this decision at the toss after opting to bowl first. He confirmed that they made two changes in the playing XI handing a debut to Tristan Stubbs and also picking Hrithik Shokeen. Apart from Pollard, they dropped Murugan Ashwin from the XI. During the interview after the toss, however, Rohit informed that it wasn’t easy for them to leave out the veteran Caribbean while also revealing that it was Pollard’s idea and was ready to sit out.

“He (Pollard) was the one who came up to us and he was ready for it (get dropped), Rohit said at the toss. “We want to try out a few players, got to see what they have to offer. Looks a good track, hope it plays well throughout the 40 overs. It’s brilliant to play against Chennai, it’s always like that. We need to try and win the game,” Rohit further said.

Pollard’s poor IPL 2022

Talking about Pollard numbers in IPL, the right-handed batter has played a total of 189 matches and has amassed 3412 runs at a decent average of 28.67. Pollard has stroked a total of 16 fifties in the tournament as well. With the ball, he has scalped a total of 69 wickets and has bowled some crucial overs.

However, it must be noted that the former West Indies skipper has failed to deliver for the Men in Blue and Gold consistently this season. He has not been able to score more than 25 runs this season and has picked only four wickets.