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Updated May 2nd, 2021 at 11:57 IST

Kieron Pollard's skill or MS Dhoni's mistake? CSK coach Fleming settles fiery IPL debate

Kieron Pollard played an explosive and game-changing knock of 87 runs off 34 balls with the help of 8 sixes and 6 fours against the Chennai Super Kings

Reported by: Ujjwal Samrat
iplt20.com/ipl
Credit: iplt20.com/IPL | Image:self
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Chennai Super Kings head coach Stephen Fleming has lauded West Indies and Mumbai Indians all-rounder Kieron Pollard for his match-winning knock against MS Dhoni & CSK on Saturday at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. Kieron Pollard played an explosive and game-changing knock of 87 runs off 34 balls with the help of 8 sixes and 6 fours against the Chennai Super Kings. Pollard's explosive innings came at a time when MI was struggling in the high-scoring run chase. Former New Zealand's captain and CSK's coach Stephen Fleming called Pollard a mainstay and also said that CSK was unable to stop him despite doing some good work in the field. 

Following the match, Stephen Fleming interacted with the media in a virtual press conference and said, "You should probably add 10 to the score, especially against the side like Mumbai Indians having power hitters. We did incredibly well to get below 220. We always felt that in a game like this, the batting and the small ground, the surface, it is sometimes very hard to defend."

"Pollard probably played his best innings in the IPL for a long time. He is an effective player, if you look at the game, he was the mainstay. We did a lot of good things around him, we just couldn't shut him down. We scored more than 200 and then put pressure on them but we were undone by a fine innings in the end," added Fleming. 

'You never know what Pollard is going to do', says Fleming

Mumbai Indians needed 2 runs on the last ball with Kieron Pollard on strike, however, CSK skipper MS Dhoni did not bring the field up in order to save those two runs. On being asked about the field set-up of the last ball, Fleming backed skipper MS Dhoni and said that Kieron Pollard is a great timer of the ball and you cannot know what he will do the next ball. "Not really (if he was surprised to see the field on the last ball). Pollard is such a good timer of the ball that you never know what he's going to do," said Fleming.

"Got so much to win, to be honest, we were looking for something like the stumps being hit or like the result, we had when we got beaten in the (2019) final. So we'll go have a look over that. I think there are a lot of other instances that we'll have a look at rather than just the last ball," he added.

With a thrilling win over CSK, Mumbai Indians remain at the fourth spot with 8 points. On the other hand, CSK also remains static at the first spot with 10 points. MS Dhoni & Co. will next lock horns with Rajasthan Royals on Wednesday in Delhi. 

(Image Credits: iplt20.com/ipl)

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Published May 2nd, 2021 at 11:57 IST

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