Location: London
Former West Indies captain Kieron Pollard has played almost 200 games in the Indian Premier League and has been a formidable presence for the Mumbai Indians. Apart from his international shows in white-ball cricket, Pollard is a sought-after player in every franchise league across the world. Pollard spoke exclusively to Moneycontrol about India’s tour of the West Indies and Rohit Sharma’s captaincy. Edited excerpts:
Q: When you play across the globe, especially in the IPL, and when you play in The Hundred (England’s version of the shortest version format), how different is it or what are the similarities?
A: I think the atmosphere is great (here in London). Because of the new format, a new initiative. I believe the crowd is excited because of its fast pace and you have to be on your toes all the time. This is my first time in this tournament and I enjoyed my first couple of games.
Q: Are you disappointed with the way the West Indies played against India because they are a very competitive side in the T20 format?
A: Talking about India, there is a pool of players which is much larger than we have in the Caribbean and you know in the first two ODIs, we fought well but unfortunately, we couldn’t get over the line. Having said that, there are a bunch of young guys in the West Indies dressing room who have played a handful of T20 internationals, including our captain Nicholas Pooran. So yes, we are in a result-oriented business, but sometimes you got to understand the background from where they come, the experience that they have, and coming up against guys who play in the IPL year after year.
Q: The way India played in both the ODIs and T20Is despite missing some of their key players, it seemed that it was all too easy for the visitors.
A: You cannot say that it was a B-team. Rohit (Sharma) was there, Rishabh Pant was there, Hardik Pandya was there – the only couple of guys missing were Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami. Again, I must say that the guys are learning and the World Cup is coming. In the last couple of games they got an idea of what to do to move forward. And as I said, there are a bunch of young guys who are capable of doing good stuff.
Q: You’ve spent a lot of time with Indian captain Rohit Sharma in the Mumbai Indians dressing room. What do you think about his captaincy?
A: Oh! It’s been absolutely brilliant. Leadership-wise, he has won a lot of games so far and he continues to do well and I love to see the hitman bat and I hope he continues his good form in the middle.
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