Mumbai, First Published Apr 21, 2022, 10:24 AM IST
West Indies T20 captain Kieran Pollard has announced his retirement from international cricket. The decision was announced ahead of today’s match against CSK.
With the T20 World Cup set to take place in Australia and the one-day World Cup next year, Pollard’s decision comes as a shock. Thus the Mayo Islands administration is in a position to search for a new captain.
Kieran Pollard averaged 11 runs in the first 15 ODIs and 17 runs in the first 10 T20I matches. However, his batting and bowling all changed in the IPL T20 series in January 2010 when he was bought by the Mumbai Indians for $ 7.50 lakh.
In particular, Pollard’s 54 off 18 balls against New South Wales in the 2009 T20 Champions League shocked everyone. It was only after watching this match that the Mumbai Indians put Pollard up for auction.
After that Pollard’s international batting and bowling record all began to change. Pollard scored two fifties at the 2011 World Cup. In the match against India in Chennai, Pollard scored 110 off 110 balls. Pollard stuns Australia with 38 off 15 balls in the 2012 T20 World Cup semi-final
Pollard’s batting and bowling were all T20, ODIs, so he became a specialist in it. But in May 2014, Pollard was dropped from the Mayo Islands squad. Pollard was left out of the squad due to a pay issue with team management.
He then returned to international cricket in 2016. Pollard proved his form with Darren Bravo’s 156 and 285 against South Africa. Pollard led the Barbados Tridents to the CBL T20 League title in 2014, finishing second in 2015.
Apart from the Mayo Islands, Pollard has played in nearly 30 different league teams. Despite retiring from international cricket, he said he would continue to play in private league matches.
In a comment posted on his Instagram page, Pollard said, “I am carefully considering and announcing this decision. I have decided to retire from international cricket. Getting a place in the Mayo Islands team is the dream of many young players. Me too has been around since I was 10 years old. For the past 15 years the Mayo Islands have been proud to feature in the T20 ODI team.
I remember first making my debut on the Mayo Islands team in 2007, captained by my hero Laura. I will never forget playing maroon, bowling, batting and fielding with some of the greatest heroes of all time. I did it without any compromise. ” He said.
Pollard has so far played in 123 ODIs and scored 2,706 runs, taking 55 wickets. Pollard has scored 1,569 runs in 101 T20 matches and 135 strikes. Pollard is not out with a maximum of 75 runs.
It is not to be forgotten that in the 2012 T20 World Cup match against Sri Lanka, Akila Tananjaya hit 6 sixes and one six in a single over. Pollard is the only Yuvraj Singh to have achieved this feat in 2007, following in the footsteps of Gibbs. Pollard is next to Gayle (532) with 234 sixes, the most sixes in a T20 match.
Last Updated Apr 21, 2022, 10:23 AM IST