Kieron Pollard

Kieron Pollard is one of the most destructive batsman around the globe, a man who can turn down any bowling line-up on his day. He is a right handed batsman who usually bats in the lower middle order and bowls medium pace for West Indies. He is known for his lethal batting and brilliant fielding for West Indies, Mumbai Indians and some other club teams.

Table of Contents

1. Career
2. Background

Career

Domestic Career

Pollard was raised by a single mother along with his two younger sisters. He spent his initial days in poverty. He played for the Trinidad and Tobago Under-19 team in the 2005 TCL group challenge and after some good performances, he was called to be a part of the West Indies Under-19 that was about to tour Pakistan. He later played in the 2006 Under-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka. In July 2006, he was called to play in the senior Trinidad and Tobago team. Six months later, he made his first-class debut against Barbados. He showcased his capability of clearing the fence in a match where he scored 86 out of his 126 runs off boundaries only. His match winning performances made way for a call-up to the West Indies team in the 2007 World Cup. Playing for Trinidad and Tobago, he displayed his hard-hitting in the 2009 Champions League match against New South Wales. He smashed 5 sixes in his innings of 54 off 18 balls to help his side to secure a win.

IPL Career

In the 2010 IPL Auction, he was bought by the Mumbai Indians, for whom he still is an integral member. He performed well in the first season which was followed by two mediocre seasons. He returned to the 2013 season with a bang and scored 420 runs to help his team register their first title. In the 2014 season, Pollard smashed 78 off 48 balls whilst chasing against Sunrisers Hyderabad but he was dismissed by Irfan Pathan in the last over and Mumbai eventually lost the match. In the first game at Wankhede against Punjab Pollard chipped in with a crucial 28 off just 12 balls and helped Mumbai register their first win of the season. Scoring 419 runs, Pollard was again prominent in the 2015 season which Mumbai won. Pollard struck 70 runs off 48 balls with 7 boundaries and 5 sixes against Rajasthan but Mumbai lost the match. He followed it up with another 64 runs off just 34 balls smashing 5 sixes against Chennai but again Mumbai were unable to defend their total. Chasing against the Delhi Daredevils Pollard joined Rayudu and smashed a quck-fire 26* off just 14 balls and ensured victory. In the same week he smashed 49 off just 24 balls with 6 sixes but Mumbai were unable to chase RCB's mammoth total. In a must win game against Kolkata Pollard played a patient knock with Hardik Pandya and helped Mumbai reach 171. Yususf Pathan led the KKR chase with a brilliant half century and the equation was 12 runs required off the final over. Pollard with ball in his hand dismissed Pathan on the very first ball, conceded 6 runs in the next 2 balls but followed it up with 3 dot balls to help Mumbai to a crucial victory. Pollard did not have the best of IPL in 2019. However he played a couple of crucial innings for his team, once again Mumbai Indians. In a low-scoring match against the Sunrisers Hyderabad, Mumbai were asked to bat first and had lost their top 3 inside the first 10 overs. From the 17th over onwards, Pollard started his massacre when he hit 4 sixes and 2 fours in that span to make a 46* off 26 balls, and get Mumbai a defendable total of 136, given their bowling. Mumbai bundled out Hyderabad for 96 runs where West Indian bowler Alzarri Joseph took 6 wickets for 12 runs in debut. In his 11th consecutive year playing for the Mumbai Indians in 2020, Pollard became the first player to represent the franchise in 150 matches.

International Career

ODI Career

Pollard made his ODI debut on 10 April, in a 2007 World Cup match against South Africa. He scored 10 runs off 17 balls and did not pick a wicket with the ball. He did not feature in any of the remaining matches of the World Cup. His first hundred in international cricket came against India in 2012 at Chennai. In the longest innings of his career, he scored 119 runs off 110 balls which was a single-handed effort to take West Indies from 5-78 to 233. He displayed his brilliance in 2012 when he amassed 102 runs off 55 runs against Australia at St Lucia. He scored his second hundred against Australia in 2013 at Sydney. He scored 109 runs off 72 balls when the other batsmen kept falling. Despite being a solid performer for various clubs around the world, his appearance at the international level remained limited. He turned down the central contract of West Indies so that he could play in various T20 leagues around the world. His disputes with the West Indies Cricket Board resulted in him not being a part of the 2015 World Cup in Australia. In May 2019, Cricket West Indies (CWI) named him as one of ten reserve players in the West Indies' squad for the 2019 Cricket World Cup.

T20I Career

Kieron Pollard made his T20I debut against Australia on 20 June 2008. There were plenty of explosive T20 finishes as well, including a 15-ball 38 that put the 2012 World T20 semi-final well beyond Australia's reach. In December 2019, during the series against India, Pollard became the fourth batsman for the West Indies to score 1,000 runs in T20I cricket. On March 4 2020, in the first T20I match against Sri Lanka, Pollard became the first cricketer to play in 500 Twenty20 matches.In the same match, Pollard also scored his 10,000th run in the format. He has played 73 T20Is up until now and scored 1,123 runs and taken 35 wickets.

Background

Pollard faced tough times in his childhood as he and his 2 sisters were raised by his mother in difficult circumstances. He is married to Jenna Ali and the couple together have a son and a daughter.