Mumbai Indians’ (MI) experienced all-rounder, Kieron Pollard, came up with a cryptic tweet in defence of himself after facing criticism over controversy following a potential non-striker run-out incident.
In MI’s previous encounter of the ongoing IPL 2021 on Friday (April 23) against Punjab Kings (PBKS), Pollard was seen backing up too far at the non-striker’s end as paceman Mohammad Shami hit the delivery stride.
While Shami didn’t actually run-out Pollard, commentators and fans over social media noticed how much of an unfair advantage was the batter trying to get in his quest to get across the other end. The wider fanbase started to go after Pollard for his act and flooded Twitter with critical comments about him.
Generally, bowlers are questioned around the unwritten ‘spirit of cricket’ in instances of running out the non-striker, it was Pollard this time who fell under the people’s scanner. A section of fans questioned that since Pollard was alert enough to threaten to run-out Shikhar Dhawan at the other end in the previous encounter, how can he cross the line himself before the ball is released?
In response on Saturday (April 24), Pollard tweeted a picture that read, “Just Because I don’t react, doesn’t mean I didn’t notice.”. He further captioned it, “Got to love these individuals who suppose to be objective. Laughable at best!”
Pollard, a dangerous power-hitter and useful right-arm medium pacer, hasn’t been at his best in the IPL 2021 so far. The 33-year-old has made just 65 runs in his five innings of the competition to date at an average of 21.66 and strike-rate of 116.07.
Unlike last season, where Pollard made 268 runs at an average of 53.60 and strike-rate of 191.42 and played a pivotal role in MI’s surge to their fifth IPL title, he hasn’t been that impactful so far.
The West Indies limited-overs captain and MI stalwart will be looking to turn his season around with a quality performance in his team’s next fixture on Thursday (April 29) against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Delhi.
