IPL 2021: MI vs SRH: Kieron Pollard: It's good we won after a scrap, our confidence is up

Chennai, April 18: Kieron Pollard made a decisive contribution to Mumbai Indians' 13-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL 2021 match here at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Saturday (April 17). Pollard the batsman made the appearance first.

It was not the familiar Pollard blitz of the death overs. The sluggish nature of the Chepauk pitch forced him to curb his big-hitting tendencies and there was a slice of fortune for him too. Vijay Shankar dropped Pollard off Khaleel Ahmed when the Trinidadian was on 18, and Pollard made Hyderabad pay for that error.

After 19.4 overs, Mumbai score read 138 for 5 but Pollard hammered Bhuvneshwar Kumar for two sixes off the fifth and sixth ball of the 20th over to take his team to 150. Pollard remained not out on 35 off 22 balls. In the end calculations that knock made a huge difference.

Pollard also bowled two parsimonious overs for just 10 overs that eased pressure on Mumbai's main bowlers in the middle overs, also helping MI to compensate for the expensiveness of Adam Milne and Krunal Pandya.

But Pollard said his job is to support the frontline bowlers. "When it's coming out nicely you want to bowl another over, but what the team needs at the moment is you... but we need the main bowlers. Just happy to do my job there," Pollard told the host broadcaster.

Pollard was happy that MI managed to scrap their way to another win. "We have to find a way and again in the backend getting those extra runs helped us. it's very difficult to adjust on this pitch when you only have a couple of balls, but that's what we train for. It's good when you scrap the victories, it gives you confidence."

On his floating batting order, Pollard said: "I think the situation dictates who comes first, we are all padded up and whenever we're called on, we're ready. There's no secret."