MI's Kieron Pollard celebrates after scoring the winning run against Chennai Super Kings in New Delhi on Saturday (May 1, 2021).
Mumbai Indians (MI) batsman Kieron Pollard said that the unbeaten 87 he scored against arch-rivals Chennai Super Kings (CSK) "has to be somewhere near the top" among the scores of match-winning knocks he has played in his more than decade-long stint in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
But, despite the stroke-filled knock that included eight sixes and six boundaries, the West Indian was "more impressed with his bowling" which fetched him two wickets for 12 runs in two overs.
The allrounder dismissed South African Faf du Plessis on 50 and then got rid of Suresh Raina for two, as CSK made 218 for 4 in the allotted 20 overs. But thanks to Pollard's pyrotechnics, MI reached the imposing target off the last ball of the innings.
"All I want to do is make my father and my family proud," said an emotional Pollard after the match on Saturday.
"The last couple of months have been very difficult for me losing a close person, a dear person to my heart who introduced me to cricket. He was here a couple of years ago in the IPL as well. He got the opportunity to see us win in 2019 and he passed away. All I want to do is to continue to make him proud. Make my family proud," said Pollard.
Asked if he was counting the number of sixes he kept on scoring, the West Indian said, "No I didn't. Actually, I was just watching the scoreboard, knowing that I had to hit sixes in order to win the game."
Pollard, who struck the fastest fifty in this edition of the IPL, taking just 17 balls, said that as a cricketer, they are used to playing such knocks. "As a cricketer you have to evolve and teams come up with different plans and you play around the world and you see different things they use. Playing international cricket as well has helped in terms of a confidence perspective," said the big hitter who had a strike rate of nearly 256 on Saturday.
