On November 15, Kieron Pollard announced his retirement from the Indian Premier League, ending his 13-year professional relationship with the Mumbai Indians (MI) (IPL). Pollard joined the Mumbai-based squad back in 2010, becoming one of the extremely rare players to play for just one franchise for more than ten years.
He was twice released by MI, but both times they were able to repurchase him. For MI, Pollard saw both triumphs and setbacks. However, the team never hesitated in its support of him, and Pollard led the team when Rohit Sharma was absent.
Dwayne Bravo gained trust in Pollard as a result of his performance in the Champions League, and the great West Indies all-rounder recommended Pollard to MI. At that time, MI was led by Sachin Tendulkar and required a Bravo alternative.
In 2020, Bravo revealed to Cricbuzz that Nita Ambani, the owner of MI, always shows appreciation for the signing of Pollard. Bravo said, “Whenever I see talent, I know talent. When Mumbai Indians needed a replacement for me, I gave them Kieron Pollard’s name. When they contacted Pollard, he was playing for a club so I recommended Dwayne Smith’s name and he became my replacement.”
He added, “ “The following year when Champions League was taking place in Hyderabad, I called Rahul and I said Kieron Pollard, he is here come and sign him now before the tournament start. Rahul and Robin Singh flew from Mumbai and came with a contract of 2000 USD. I called Pollard and told him to meet me in the lobby. He saw the 2000 USD contract a year. For us coming from Trinidad, 19-year-old, 2000 USD is like wow. Pollard said Dwayne are you serious. I told him yes, sign the contract. Pollard then went on to have an unbelievable tournament and everyone wanted to know who is this kid.”
The decision by MI to sign Pollard proved to be a wise one, as for the following 13 years, he served as the team’s core. Pollard has participated in each of MI’s five IPL championship runs so far. With 2180 runs and 69 wickets in 189 matches, he completes his IPL career. For MI, he finished with 3915 runs and 79 batsmen out.
In his new role as batting coach for the Mumbai Indians, Pollard will report to Mark Boucher, the team’s new head coach.
