Kieron Pollard Comes In Support Of Hardik Pandya After Losing MI vs CSK IPL 2024 Match

Things are certainly not working in an appropriate manner for Mumbai Indians (MI) captain Hardik Pandya in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2024). The Mumbai Indians team management took a bold call when they decided to bring in Hardik as the new MI skipper for the IPL 2024 season and dropped Rohit Sharma from the leadership role who had won as many as five titles. Under the newly appointed captain, Mumbai Indians have managed to win a couple of matches and succumbed to a total of four losses so far in this T20 competition. Moreover, India's premier all-rounder has faced a lot of criticism from the fans at every stadium in this Indian Premier League 2024 season. 

Cricket is a team game at the end of the day admits Kieron Pollard

In the recently concluded IPL 2024 match, the Mumbai Indians witnessed a poor 20-run defeat at the hands of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Sunday at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Incidentally, Hardik Pandya found himself under the striking lines for both his performance with the bat and ball. While bowling the 20th over of the game against CSK, MS Dhoni smacked the MI captain for as many as 20 runs from only four deliveries. On the other hand, Hardik scored just 2 runs off 6 balls before getting dismissed by Tushar Deshpande. 

During the post-match press conference, Mumbai Indians batting coach Kieron Pollard spoke in support of MI skipper Hardik Pandya. The big-hitting West Indian stated that he doesn't likes to point out at individual performances as it is a team sport. Pollard also mentioned that it is a high time when the India crowd starts encouraging Hardik rather tha booing him as he will vica-captaining the national team in the upcoming 2024 ICC T20 World Cup. 

"I am fed up of [us] looking to pinpoint individuals; cricket is a team game at the end of the day. This is an individual who is going to represent the country in less than six weeks' time, and all are going to cheer him and want him to do well. So it is high time we try to encourage and stop nitpicking and see if we can get the best out of one of the great all-rounders India has produced. He can bat, bowl, and field, and has an X-factor about him,” said Mumbai Indians batting coach Kieron Pollard during the post-match press conference. 

"As an individual, you have to evolve, When you are young, you have the youthful exuberance. You go out and do things in a certain manner. The older you get, accountability and responsibility kick in. What I am seeing is the guy is evolving. We, as individuals, want to see certain things but sometimes the game does not demand certain things and [players] are going to make mistakes as you go along, as we all have done,” he added.