Pollard powers MI in last-ball thriller
Before Saturday, Kieron Pollard had precious little to contribute in this IPL, scoring 81 runs and picking up one wicket in Mumbai Indians’ (MI) previous six outings. Against Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Pollard outnumbered both in one day. Pollard’s unbeaten 34-ball 87 on a flat Delhi wicket took MI home by four wickets from an improbable 81/3 at the halfway mark chasing 219.
The onslaught started in the 13th over when he smacked three successive sixes off Ravindra Jadeja. The 14th by Shardul Thakur yielded a six and three fours as CSK’S strategy of bowling at length and wide to the big man wasn’t bearing fruit. Sam Curran removed Krunal Pandya in a brilliant two-run 17th over that brought the equation to 48 off 18. When Faf du Plessis dropped Pollard at long-on in the penultimate ball of the 18th over, one just sensed it was Pollard’s night. And it was. With 16 to win off the final over, Pollard hit two fours, a six and ran like a hare with two needed off the final ball.
The West Indian’s 17-ball halfcentury was the fastest of this season, an effort that bettered Ambati Rayudu’s fifty by three balls on the same day that lifted CSK from 136/4 after the 15th over to 218/4. Rayudu’s unbeaten 72 after Bumrah and Pollard took three wickets in two overs was the kind of sucker punch that the CSK batting line-up of the prime has been known to throw. It had seven of the 16 sixes in the innings, ranging from rocking back and depositing leggie Rahul Chahar over square leg to stepping down for two sixes over Dhawal Kulkarni to pulling Trent Boult. Even Jasprit Bumrah wasn’t spared; his spell leaked 56 runs for the solitary wicket, his most expensive four overs in an IPL game.
Rayudu and Jadeja’s unbroken 102-run partnership in the last eight overs provided a fitting flourish to another century stand for the second wicket between du Plessis (50, 28b) and Moeen Ali (58, 36b) that reiterated the quality and form of the CSK toporder this season.
Brief scores: CSK 218/4 (Faf du Plessis 50, Moeen Ali 58, Ambati Rayudu 72*; Kieron Pollard 2/12). MI 219/6 (Quinton de Kock 38, Rohit Sharma 35, Kieron Pollard 87*). MI won by 4 wkts.