Former Indian batter Aakash Chopra believes that this might well be Kieron Pollard’s final season in the Indian Premier League. Mumbai Indians may not be inclined to retain the West Indies all-rounder for their IPL 2023 campaign, and would focus on getting a replacement instead.
35-year-old Kieron Pollard who has spent his IPL career with Mumbai Indians and has been a fundamental part of all five title-winning sides has had a very disappointing campaign with the bat in 2022. He played just 11 IPL matches before he decided to relegate himself to the bench. During those matches, the West Indies all-rounder who recently announced his retirement from international cricket, amassed 144 runs at a terrible average of 14.40 and at a strike rate of 107.46.
Pollard’s negative match impacts with the bat made their middle-order looked extremely weak and the likes of Tilak Varma and Tim David had to compensate for it in the first half and the second half of the tournament respectively. Pollard wasn’t selected in the starting XI for the final matches of the season and it may have sealed the writing on the wall.
Pollard’s horrendous form also coincided with a new look Mumbai Indians being out of ideas and struggling to find a winning combination until the second half of the campaign. With just four wins in their 14 league matches, they finished at the bottom of the table in the 10-team competition.
Looking forward to the next season of the IPL, Aakash Chopra discussed names that he believes Mumbai Indians should release from their roster. “I think we have seen the last of Kieron Pollard. ₹6 crore will be released if they don’t retain him. I think they can let Murugan Ashwin (₹1.6 crore) go as well. I am not sure about Jaydev Unadkat (₹1.3 crore) but they can definitely say bye bye to Tymal Mills (₹1.5 crore),” he said on his YouTube channel.
Highlighting the problems that MI faced this season, Chopra mentioned that the team is very one-dimensional. They have good batters but lack world class all-rounders who can impact the game at a high level.
“There are no issues with batting as such. The problem is with the lack of all-rounders. It’s a very one-dimensional team. Batters don’t bowl, bowlers don’t bat. That is where they were pegged back. Krunal Pandya, Hardik Pandya, and Pollard used to do the job earlier but that is not happening now,” he further added.
