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Kieron Pollard failed to finish things off for the Mumbai Indians (MI) as the five-time champions lost their second game of the season against the Rajasthan Royals (RR) by 23 runs. The RR spinners were exceptional and that in the end proved to be the difference between the two sides.
Jos Buttler's stunning hundred put RR in a great position at 193/8. Halfway through MI's chase, things were looking good for the Men in Blue and Gold. However, they just couldn't get the finishing kick to get over the line and are yet to open their account in the IPL 2022 season.
Fans on Twitter trolled MI and especially Kieron Pollard for being expensive with the ball and also for his uncharacteristic innings of 22 off 24 balls. Here are some of the reactions:
Kieron Pollard couldn't back up the good work of Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma
Although 194 looked to be a daunting target, the pitch at the DY Patil Stadium looked good for batting. Mi got off to a decent start but lost the wickets of skipper Rohit Sharma and Anmolpreet Singh in the powerplay.
Tilak Varma came to the crease and began to provide MI's innings with that much-needed impetus. Both Ishan Kishan and Varma found boundaries at regular intervals and up until the 13th over, MI looked to be on their way to their first win of the season.
However, Trent Boult struck with an important wicket of Kishan and that brought Kieron Pollard to the crease. While Pollard took his time to get settled, Varma continued to play his shots. Unfortunately for the youngster, he was stopped in his tracks on 61 by a brilliant ball from Ravichandran Ashwin.
Yuzvendra Chahal bowled arguably the game-changing over as he picked up the big wickets of Tim David and Daniel Sams off consecutive deliveries. The leg-spinner could have bagged a hat-trick had Karun Nair held onto Murugan Ashwin's catch at first slip.
It was all down to Kieron Pollard to play another miraculous knock to take MI home. However, he never quite found his timing and MI ended up falling comprehensively short of the target. With two losses from two games, Rohit Sharma and his men will need to work out a way to come storming back into the tournament.
