Twenty20 king

West Indies white ball captain Kieron Pollard has moved to the top of the ladder as the player to have won the most global Twenty20 championship titles.

Pollard, 33, won his 15th title today when Mumbai Indians defeated the Delhi Capitals by five wickets in the Indian Premier League Final in Dubai. Pollard, who was bought by Mumbai Indians in 2010 for US$750 000 and has earned more than BDS$10 million with that franchise over his 11 years’ association, first came to the fore in 2009 in the Champions League. He had made his T2O debut three years earlier and has thus far played for more than a dozen franchises. He made his T20 international debut in 2008.

The burly Trinidadian who once opted out of playing for the West Indies ‘A’ team to play T20s for English County side Somerset and then declined a West Indies central contract to free himself up to play further franchise cricket, today deemed Mumbai Indians the best franchise team in the world. He said the franchise stood out because of the focus on ticking all the right boxes, and how most of their uncapped players had graduated to play international cricket after excelling in the IPL.

“It is a great feeling, it means a lot,” Pollard said after the latest title run. “Having been here for 11 years, (a) fifth trophy is fantastic,” he told former West Indies fast bowler Ian Bishop on the official broadcast. In addition to their five IPL titles (the Chennai Super Kings are second with three), the Mumbai Indians have also won two Champions League T20 titles, in 2011 and 2013.

Pollard, who has been part of several T20 franchises in addition to winning two T20 World Cup titles with West Indies, was asked if the Mumbai Indians were the best T20 team “going around” globally. “With the amount of trophies, the amount of work and the number of players that went on and played international cricket, play for India, play for their different respective countries, I think you will have to say so,” Pollard said.

Pollard, who was the player of the match in the 2013 IPL final, admitted there was pressure to perform with a franchise that had been among the favourites for long, and had heavyweights including captain Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya. This season, three more players were added to that list of stars – the uncapped Indian batting pair of Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan, and New Zealand strike bowler Trent Boult, who was the tournament’s third-highest wicket-taker.

Mr T20 – Kieron Pollard.jpg

“The work that goes on behind scenes – no one sees the preparation, the planning, and to come out and actually deliver on the field,” Pollard said. “It’s pressure, yes, to play for a big franchise like this, but you can only get better as an individual if you take everything on board, take it with a pinch of salt, and take it positive.

“The way we plan, each and every box is ticked in what we want to achieve as a team. The openers, middle-order batsmen, finishers, death bowlers… we have an abundance of them in our team. Again, kudos must go to the ownership and the management staff and everybody for the work they do behind the scenes in order to the project this team in to the international stage. Long may it continue for us.”

Pollard took the opportunity to rib fellow West Indies allrounder and fellow Trinidadian Dwayne Bravo, a Super Kings veteran: “Five trophies, that is a bit unprecedented. The closest now to us is three. Dwayne Bravo, you are behind now, I am in front of you.”

Pollard was appointed captain of the West Indies Twenty20 and One-Day International sides in September 2019, replacing all-rounders Carlos Brathwaite and Jason Holder respectively.

He has scored 10 475 T20 runs from 528 matches at an average of 31.45 with one century and 51 fifties. On the international stage he has scored 1123 runs in 73 matches for the West Indies at an average of 23.39 with four fifties.