Former West Indies skipper Kieron Pollard, who hung his boots from the Indian Premier League on Tuesday, left everyone in shock with the retirement decision. The all-rounder was an integral part of the Mumbai Indians as he gave numerous outstanding performances, over the past 13 years. Pollard will now be taking up the role of the batting coach in the MI camp, starting from IPL 2023. Seeing his compatriot bidding farewell to the cash-rich league, West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo penned down a heartfelt note and congratulated Pollard on his fantastic IPL career.
Taking to Instagram, Bravo posted a picture with Pollard and captioned it, “To my best friend, my teammate, opponent. 13 years ago, I had a very small part to play in introducing you to arguably one the most successful IPL teams @mumbaiindians. I saw you grow from a little boy from Maloney and then go to India to dominate the toughest T20 league. You became a household name around the world.”
“Lord, I salute you on a fantastic career wish you all the best in your next chapter as it’s a sad day for you and your fans but we also celebrate what you have achieved. I feel proud as your friend and to write this message @kieron.pollard55 #LORD #LEGEND #BIGLIP from the champion,” he added.
Pollard and Bravo are two of the biggest stars of the shortest format of the sport from West Indies. Both have represented a lot of teams in T20 leagues all over the world.
In 614 matches and 545 innings, Pollard has scored 11,915 runs at an average of 31.02. He has scored one century and 56 half-centuries in his 20-over career. Besides this, he also has 309 wickets in this format.
Bravo has also played 556 matches in which he has scored 6,894 runs at an average of 22.82. He has 20 half-centuries in the format, with the best score of 70*. The all-rounder also has 614 wickets in the T20 format, which is highest by any bowler.
Notably, Bravo was also released by Chennai Super Kings on Tuesday ahead of the IPL mini-auction on December 23.
Ever since he signed with MI in 2010, Pollard has been one of the marquee players of the franchise, having won them many games with his all-round performances. In 189 matches for the side, Pollard has scored 3,412 runs at an average of 28.67, with 16 half-centuries under his belt. He has also taken 69 wickets for the five-time champions.
But the last season with MI was underwhelming for him. In 11 matches, he could score only 144 runs at an average of 14.40, with the highest score of 25. He hit these runs at a poor strike rate of 107.46. Also, he took only four wickets for his side in the tournament.
With ANI inputs
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