Was it the pressure of the big final? Or the pressure of losing to Rising Pune Supergiant in the last three encounters? Whatever it might be, it certainly did not work in the favour of Mumbai Indians.
Post the top order collapse, Kieron Pollard was perfectly trapped in a plan the Supergiant. Pollard came in to bat at No. 6, after the fall of Rohit Sharma on the first delivery of the 11th over. The third delivery of the over was his first one and he surprisingly hit it for a six over the long-off boundary. Watch how he hit a six on his first delivery:
On the last delivery of the same over, Pollard went for a similar shot in the similar direction. However, he was foxed by some smart captaincy from Steven Smith. A very straight-ish long-off in the form of Manoj Tiwary was in play for Pollard. Being carried by the urge to play the same shot, he hit it straight to Tiwary. In 2010, MS Dhoni had placed a similar field against Pollard in a successful attempt to dismiss him. It is a possibility that Smith might have considered the former captain’s opinion in planning the exit of Pollard.
Pollard could have played in a more smart manner, especially after the fall of four top order wickets. His confidence was perhaps turned into over-confidence when he was dismissed in such a manner. Watch the video of his dismissal:
— CricShots (@cric_shots) May 21, 2017
Video Credits – IPL.
Feature Image Source – iplt20.com
