Mumbai Indians required 23 runs to win off the last two over in the last night’s run-fest against Kings XI Punjab at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. Some astute bowling by Sandeep Sharma made sure that Indians score only nine runs in the penultimate over.
With the equation reduced down to 16 runs in six balls, Kings XI slightly held the upper hand. Mohit Sharma was called upon to finish the innings for his team. He had conceded 49 runs (and picked up two wickets) in three overs so far but this over was the moment of truth for him.
But what shifted everyone’s attention on the first delivery of the last over was not the batsman’s six down the ground or the bowler’s nail-biting yorker. It was the short-run which Kieron Pollard ran to get back to strike. Before drawing any conclusion, it is important for us to understand whether it was a mistake or a desperate act by Pollard to get back on the strike in the crucial over.
Pollard hit a Mohit Sharma delivery to the long-on region and immediately called for a couple of runs. He was then found short of the crease at the non-striker’s end. It could be a mistake on the part of the 30-year old Pollard, for he could have missed the crease in the urgency and pressure of returning back to the crease.
Let us hope that it wasn’t the other way round, i.e., a desperate act by the West Indian to return back to the crease because then, it will be labelled as an unfair practice which might have its own consequences.
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— CricShots (@cric_shots) May 11, 2017
Video Credits – IPL.
Feature Image Source – iplt20.com (screen grab)
