Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma has posted a heartfelt note for his teammate Kieron Pollard’s retirement from the Indian Premier League. Rohit took to Instagram and shared a picture of himself with Kieron Pollard with a heartfelt caption for his former teammate. He wrote: “Big man, big impact and always played with heart. A true MI legend @kieron.pollard55.”
Pollard, who played 189 games for the MI, on Tuesday announced his retirement from the IPL and said he would continue as batting coach of the franchise.
Over the years, Pollard has been immense for the franchise, one of the bona fide MI legends. Since making his IPL debut in 2010, he has made 189 appearances, scoring 3,412 runs at a strike rate of 147.32 and claiming 69 wickets with his gentle medium pace.
In 2021 also, the five-time champions had failed to reach the playoffs and Pollard had an average outing – 245 runs from 14 matches. So, when the franchise retained him for Rs 6 crore ahead of the mega auction in 2022 year, eyebrows were raised. MI, though, rewarded loyalty and the player’s pedigree, but the 2022 season turned out to be worse for the big man – 144 runs from 11 games – with his team languishing at the foot of the table.
In a statement announcing the retirement, the West Indian said, “It hasn’t been the easiest decision to make as I intend to keep playing for a few more years, but following discussions with Mumbai Indians I have a franchise which has achieved so much that 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’. This is not an emotional goodbye to MI however as I have agreed to take up the role of batting coach in the IPL as well as play with MI Emirates.”
