Kieron Pollard - Beyond the burly muscles and big sixes!

By Dev Tyagi

The West Indies cricket team is generally regarded as everyone’s second favourite side, besides the team belonging to one’s country of origin. But, honestly speaking, when it comes to modern T20 cricket, West Indians tend to top everyone’s list of favourite cricketers. With big muscles, burly frames and that inborn agility, the Caribbean dashers have done to cricket what The Beatles did to English Rock music, Shashi Tharoor did to the art of oratory, and what Israelis did to the craft of espionage: thrilled. 

Among the significant reasons why the West Indians generate tremendous interest around the world even as much of their national cricket continues to decline is Kieron Adrian Pollard. It’s not down to the number of sixes hit in T20 internationals: 99. It’s not just the mighty strike rate of 135 in T20Is cricket. It’s not only because of the T20 World Cup win in 2012, where his timely cameos helped a line-up featuring Gayle, Samuels, Sammy and Bravo. 

No cricketer other than Kieron Pollard has featured in 500 T20. It isn’t just a vast number; it’s an Everest of achievements that only Pollard has managed to scale. It’s a tribute to his longevity. It’s a mark of his consistency and willingness to persevere. Yet, we tend to remember the effortless sixes, that he’s featured in no fewer than thirty T20 teams and that Pollard is not just a cricketer but a soaring brand today. 

Little is spared that Kieron Pollard arrived in the international arena in what was a whirlwind year for West Indian cricket. Most will remember 2007 as when West Indies hosted the ODI World Cup and horribly underperformed in it. The biggest casualty of a miserable tournament was Brian Lara; the legend would retire at the end of the Windies’ campaign. But, while one majestic Trinidadian was stepping away, another, then just nineteen, was beginning his journey.

FOLLOW ALL IPL 2022 UPDATES HERE

Where, on the one hand, West Indies ODI cricket was continuing to sink into the quicksand, their T20 game, on the other hand, was beginning to take distinct form and shape. The Gayleforce was rising. Bravo emerged as a superior force in the shortest format. The likes of Sammy and Russell arrived with promise and vigour. 

And then, there was Kieron Pollard with his unfettered excellence with the bat. Fifteen years have passed since, and the right-hander has come a long way. A really long way. He’s smashed a famous Sydney century in 2013, contributed a valiant cameo in the 2012 T20 World Cup semi-final, hit astronomical sixes for the Mumbai Indians, dislodged Akila Dananjaya for six consecutive sixes, found himself dropped from the 2015 ODI World Cup squad, captained West Indies in white-ball cricket, and has finally called time on his international career. 

In so doing, Pollard acquired a devoted fan base in his native Trinidad, found a second home in India, played his part in Mumbai Indians’ ascendency in the IPL and contributed to growing the cult of T20 cricket around the world. What’s exceptional is that despite playing for such a long time, Pollard topped the sphere of injury management, an understated quotient of the game. 

Pollard never shied away from going full stretch, whether in the in-field or patrolling a critical position in the outfield, for someone who stands nearly six and a half feet above the ground in the frame. He even claimed 97 international wickets with his less-than-scary medium pace, besides scalping 305 in T20 cricket. 

ALSO READ: Kieron Pollard announces retirement from international cricket; social media gets emotional

But, what isn’t exceptional, after all, is that Pollard didn’t scale grand heights in his West Indian career. For someone who had the pleasure of representing the West Indies for 123 ODI’s, Pollard only struck 2,700 runs (three centuries and 13 fifties). He only stroked six half-centuries even in T20I’s, where Pollard hit over 1,500 runs. 

To many, that two of his ODI tons came against Australia counts for fair repair work just the way a strike rate of 135 in T20I’s after playing 101 games for West Indies points to a job well done. Truth be told, you can’t fault anyone there. But, where part of the fault rests is with Pollard’s inconsistencies. 

While he may never have planned it that way, Kieron Pollard overachieved for Mumbai Indians while underachieving for his native West Indies. How so? His strike rate of 149 in the IPL is much higher than the 135 for national duties, but the big hitter scored more than double the runs in the world-famous franchise T20 league than he did whilst wearing the maroon colour. 

To his credit, he helped shape the new identity of cricket called T20 in an age of instant gratification and wanting attention. But, where he must be critically examined is whether he shouldered the extra responsibility of leading by an example. Did he eschew the love for participating in T20 leagues to serve the West Indies? On the contrary, the soon-to-be 35 once famously blasted a journalist for labelling him a T20 mercenary when he was precisely that for the better part of his career.

ALSO READ: Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah feature in Wisden's 'Cricketers of the Year' 2022 Almanack

It’s not that the free-stroking batter didn’t try to up the Windies’ cause; during the 2020 tour to New Zealand, Pollard demonstrated pure ruthlessness with the bat as he scored 75 of his team’s 180 runs in the opening T20 international. In the third and final ODI at Cuttack, circa 2019, Pollard almost single-handedly bailed out the West Indies from a mess and scored 74 from just 51 deliveries. 

Over the years, he’s guided the likes of Hayden Walsh Jr., mentored Pooran, now primed to be the captain, and gone out of his way to thank legends like Gayle and Bravo for their continued service to West Indies cricket. But, what leaves one a tad bit disgruntled is that at a time where he could have continued for two more years - if not more - with the T20 World Cup just around the corner, Pollard jumped the boat and called time on his international career.

And, rather unsurprisingly, he’s offered his services for the T20 leagues that are mushrooming worldwide. If he was exercising control and caution to what is presumably a tired body, would he not be exhausted playing the sport’s most tiring format? For all he’s done, he must also be questioned whether he’d have liked to set a better example to the current crop of Windies youngsters who’ve grown up admiring him. 

Think Rovman Powell, Odean Smith, Romario Shepherd, Obed McCoy, Brandon King, to quote just a few! But again, that’s a question one can only raise and not get assured answers for.

(Dev Tyagi is a freelance writer who has an unequivocal love for Windies cricket. He is also a Formula 1 buff. He can be followed on Twitter - @caughtatpoint17)

• Kieron Pollard
• Kieron Pollard retirement
• Kieron Pollard retires
• west indies
• windies
• Kieron Pollard tribute