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IPL 2020: Kieron Pollard names three cricketers who are the ‘engine’ of Mumbai Indians

Mumbai Indians were able to post their first 200-plus score of IPL 2020 thanks to some solid hitting in the death overs by Kieron Pollard and the Pandya brothers, Hardik and Krunal. MI were 147/4 after 15 overs and in order to reach 200, it was important for at least one of them to fire. Fortunately for MI, all three all-rounders contributed well with the bat with Pollard remaining unbeaten on 25 off 13 balls, Hardik chipping in with 28 off 19 and Krunal hammering 20 off 4 balls.

MI have been destructive with the bat in the lower order and Sunday was the recent example of it. Pollard, who’s been with the franchise since the 2010 edition of the IPL, weighed in on how MI continue to manage heaps of runs in the final five overs, saying that he, along with brothers Krunal and Hardik, comprise the engine of the MI car, one that goes off well when the perfect fuel is injected.

“We look at us (him and Pandya brothers) as the engine room in the car. Without the engine you can’t move. We need to go there, put the speed on and up the run rate, some days it will happen some days it won’t but when it gets off, we have to make sure we make it count. Just petrol, clean petrol (the fuel that gets them going),” Pollard said.

Sunrisers Hyderabad fell short of the target by some margin. Barring David Warner’ half-century, the other batsmen had little as SRH’s batting crumbled under the pressure of a steep asking rate. This is SRH’s third defeat of the tournament and looking back the game, Warner rued the failure to get a strong partnership going.

“Looking at the stats, their two experienced bowlers bowled well in the middle overs. That wicket during the day is a little bit slower. It was holding up a fraction,” Warner said.

“Obviously, 209 on the board, we tried to go 10 an over, but we couldn’t get a partnership strung together long enough. Two new guys coming in today with Bhuvneshwar injured as well. A lot of things we can work on in training. I counted probably seven or eight full tosses towards the back end. From the execution point of view, we didn’t nail that.”

Source: IPLT20.com

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