Mumbai: Umesh Yadav had an over to go, so did Andre Russell but Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Gautam Gambhir threw the ball to R Sathish when Mumbai Indians’ (MI) Kieron Pollard looked perilous in his approach chasing 175. Sathish leaked 30 runs off his two overs and eventually, Mumbai beat Kolkata by six wickets here at the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday. But Robin Singh, one of the MI coaches alongside Ricky Ponting, called it a smart move and praised Pollard for his intrepid innings.
“It was probably a strategy to hand over the ball to Sathish. But Pollard’s cricket has matured over the season. I have seen him at Barbados as well,” said the former India cricketer, who has also been the coach of Barbados Tridents in the Caribbean Premier League.
Pollard’s knee injury kept him out of action for months, there is still not much foot movement whenever he is in the middle but the big man is good enough to stand and deliver. He remained unbeaten on 51 off 17 balls with six sixes and two fours.
“I believe he is fine now, he has done a lot in the rehabilitation programme. I feel he came back way early than we expected him to,” added Robin.
Robin, one of the best fielders India ever produced, trains the MI kids along with Jonty Rhodes – undoubtedly one of the best fielders in international cricket. But their lads dropped three catches, all of them being sitters.
Mitchell McClenaghan dropped Gambhir off his own bowling while Tim Southee dropped Chris Lynn twice at deep midwicket.
“All three catches should have been taken. No one drops a catch to embarrass themselves,” added Robin.
However, Robin expected the score to stay minimum at 180.
“Better fielding could have restricted them to 160, but it was a 180-185 wicket,” he pointed.
He called KKR’s strategy “horses for courses”.
“Many of their players may not play in their home match, their game is like horses for courses,” concluded Robin.
