What is Pollard's role in the Mumbai XI?
The unique thing about Mumbai Indians has been that their surplus player has been the same guy for many years. And he takes an overseas player's slot to boot. Kieron Pollard has bowled 7.5 IPL overs since May 24, 2015. It is safe to assume that he plays as a specialist batsman and a fielder. Yet he is used by Mumbai sparingly. No specialist batsman, let alone an overseas one, in this IPL has had less to do than him in this IPL. Until the Sunrisers game, at an average, there have only been 31.2 balls left in the innings when Pollard he has come out to bat this season; even Ravindra Jadeja has been coming in with more to do.
Yet, it is impact that Pollard is paid the big bucks for. When he scores a fifty, his side wins three out of four games. The rate for Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli, to put it in perspective, is 68% and 62%.
Last year he came in at 7 for 4 and smacked a 47-ball 70 to win a match against Royal Challengers Bangalore. That was the kind of impact Mumbai needed from him when he came out to bat at 61 for 4 in a tricky chase. These are the nights they pay Pollard for. This time, though, he made a mental error and guided Rashid straight to slip. Will it make Mumbai question their persistence with Pollard? Not if he can win a couple of games off his own bat.
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