Former India head coach Ravi Shastri said Mumbai Indians would want to see Kieron Pollard go on a good note after a dismal season for the five-time champions. Five-time champions Mumbai Indians are already out of contention for the IPL 2022 playoffs and one of the major concerns for them among other issues, has been Pollard’s form with the bat.

Ravi Shastri said Kieron Pollard will play as long as he thinks he can deliver.

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“I think he (Pollard) will play. He has announced his retirement from international cricket. If he doesn’t play, he will go and tell the management,” Shastri told Star Sports.

“He will go and tell the people concerned at MI that it’s time to give someone else a chance. But till he does that, he will play. He has got the experience, he may have finished his cricket. Mumbai Indians would like to see him go on a good note,” Shastri said.

Kieron Pollard has endured a nightmarish run of form this season. In 10 matches, he has scored only 120 runs with a strike rate of 109.32 and he is yet to score a half-century.

FLAT BODY LANGUAGE

Ravi Shastri said Kieron Pollard’s body language has not intimidated opposing teams in IPL 2022. Pollard has been one of Mumbai Indians’ greatest match-winners but this season, lack of runs from the former West Indies captain

“Pollard’s body language is what intimidates the opposition and has done for years. So he is kind of flat at the moment. So if he gets the spring in his stride, he can start delivering again for MI,” he said.

Kieron Pollard retired from international cricket in the middle of IPL 2022 and has not looked the part. In 2021, Pollard had scored 245 runs from 14 matches and the year before that, he smashed 268 runs from 16 matches at a strike-rate of 191.42.

MI rely heavily on the hitting prowess of Kieron Pollard down the order. In the absence of the Pandya brothers who have moved to different IPL teams, Pollard was expected to come out all guns blazing but that did not happen this year.

Mumbai Indians are the most successful team in IPL history with five titles but they were the first team to crash out of the race for the playoffs in 2022.

To make matters more complex for Mumbai Indians, skipper Rohit Sharma failed to fire at the top while Ishan Kishan who was bought for a staggering Rs 15.25 crore in the auction, struggled alongside Rohit after starting the season with back-to-back half-centuries.

Jasprit Bumrah, one of the most feared pacers in world cricket and MI’s strike bowler for years, has not taken too many wickets in IPL 2022 while the others in the bowling line-up failed to step up.

Kieron Pollard has won MI several matches from tricky situations over the last several years and as MI play their last few matches of a forgettable season, the team would want to see some of his muscle power destroy bowling attacks and spoil the party for other sides still in the reckoning for playoff berths.