Mitchell McClenaghan hails Kieron Pollard's knock as 'one of the best he's ever seen'

Mumbai Indians’ left-arm speedster Mitchell McCleneghan was all praises for Kieron Pollard’s match-winning performance against RCB on Friday. The Kiwi pacer said it was one of the best knocks he had ever seen, as Pollard batted intelligently on a tough Bengaluru track.

The West Indian all-rounder was criticized for his lack of form in this season of the IPL so far. Sanjay Manjrekar had earlier said that Pollard ‘doesn’t have the brains to play early in the innings’. Nevertheless, Pollard shut his critics with a spectacular inning which brought Mumbai to the brink of victory.

“Pollards’s innings was one of the best I have seen on an incredibly difficult wicket. I think the media underestimated him. He showed the composure of a top-order batsman to stick to the wicket in given situations. It was one of the smartest and technically good chases I have seen,” McClenaghan was quoted as saying to the Indian Express.

Although chasing just 143, Kieron Pollard found himself at the crease in the third over itself. The middle order batsman came in to bat with the Mumbai Indians reeling at 7-4. Fellow West Indian Samuel Badree’s hat-trick had ensured RCB had a vice-like grip on the boys from Mumbai.

Soon, Pollard lost in-form batsman Nitish Rana at the other end as the scorecard now read 33-5. It was only a matter of time before the Mumbai Indians would sink completely. Nevertheless, Kieron Pollard rescued his team from the jaws of defeat with an unbelievable knock.

Pollard’s 47-ball 70 came at a crucial stage when Mumbai looked completely derailed from the contest. His innings left the Mumbai Indians inches from victory, and the Pandya brothers did the rest to see them home.

“The wicket had variable bounce. It was was not coming on to the bat at a pace, and therefore KP’s (Kieron Pollard) innings looked even better. It was pleasant to see both of them (Pandya brothers) backing up Pollard till the end,” he said.

The Pandya brothers have shown great character in this edition of the IPL so far. They have made it a habit to absorb the pressure in testing conditions, and have done the job for the side on three occasions now.

McCleneghan also lauded Samuel Badree’s exceptional spell, whose hat-trick send MI spiraling into trouble.

“That (hat-trick against us) was a terrible thing for a start. Badree is a world class bowler for a long time. He took a hat-trick in this match and put us on the backfoot, and almost put us on a position where there was no way back,” he said.

Mitchell McCleneghan gave credit to former Kiwi speedster and the Mumbai Indians bowling coach Shane Bond. He mentioned that Bond had chalked out specific plans for all the bowlers, who in turn executed them to perfection to restrict a batting-heavy RCB side to just 142.

“We had strong plans. We have Shane Bond as bowling coach, and in last two to three games myself, in particular, have not executed well enough. Drying up boundaries at the end of the innings really affects the momentum of any team, and hence my kudos to the bowlers who bowled exceptionally well,” he said.

Following their clinical victory over the Royal Challengers Bangalore, the Mumbai Indians are sitting pretty at the top of the table with 6 points in the bag.