Mumbai Indians stalwart Kieron Pollard, the five-time Indian Premier League winner and arguably one of the greatest match-winners in the league, called it quits on his time as a player in the league ahead of the IPL 2023 mini-auction. Pollard, who was retained by MI for INR 6 crore last season, was released ahead of the auction next month.
“It hasn’t been the easiest decision to make as I will keep playing for a few more years, but I understand that this incredible franchise which has achieved so much needs to transition and if I’m no longer to play for MI then I cannot see myself playing against MI either. Once an MI, always an MI.”,
Pollard said in a statement on Tuesday, November 15, not long before the IPL 2023 retention deadline.
The 35-year-old has now been appointed as the Mumbai Indians batting coach and will continue as a player for the MI Emirates, the franchise’s subsidiary in the International League T20.
Pollard represented the Mumbai Indians in a whopping 189 IPL matches since his debut in the 2010 edition, wherein the side lost to Chennai Super Kings in the final. He was the Player of the Match for his scintillating fifty against the same opponents in the 2013 final, which set it up for MI’s maiden Premier League triumph.
He was then a part of Mumbai Indians’ IPL wins in 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020, as well as the Champions League winning campaigns in 2011 and 2013.
Pollard scored 3,412 IPL runs at a strike-rate of 147.32 with 16 fifties and 223 sixes. The player also bagged 69 wickets with his gentle medium pace, and took 103 catches as a fielder, a tally bettered only by Suresh Raina. He could manage just 144 runs in 11 games in MI’s last finish at IPL 2022.
