West Indies white-ball legend Kieron Pollard shocked the cricketing world on Wednesday night when he announced his decision to retire from international cricket. The 34-year-old all-rounder- who captained the national team in their most recent international assignment against India- will now only be seen playing in franchise cricket tournaments around the world.
Since making his West Indies debut back in 2007, Pollard went on to play 123 ODIs and 101 T20Is for the national team. In his 15-year-long international career, Polly managed to score 3 centuries and 19 half-centuries across the limited-overs formats. He finished with an aggregate of 97 wickets, which included a career-best 4/25 against Ireland in a T20 game in 2020.
Kieron Pollard ends T20I career with 99 sixes and 135 strike-rate
Pollard’s all-round abilities have made him the multi-dimensional player that he is today; but the unique USP that he brings to the table is his blistering power-hitting capabilities. Pollard finishes his T20I career with a commendable strike-rate of 135.14, and he finishes just 1 hit short of 100-sixes in the format.
But besides his trademark mercuriality, another major highlight of Polly’s career will be how well he managed to integrate the West Indies team in his tenure as captain. He was appointed as the national team’s full-time captain in 2019, following a great deal of uncertainty around the future of the team’s senior-most campaigners.
However, it was under Pollard’s responsible leadership that several promising white-ball players like Shimron Hetmyer, Nicholas Pooran, and Shai Hope were able to mature into the class white-ball stars that they are today. It was also under his captaincy that several West Indies’ T20 legends like Dwayne Bravo, Lendl Simmons, Andre Russell, and Chris Gayle were able to make a comeback into the side for the 2021 T20 World Cup.
Pollard will still be available for Mumbai Indians and other T20 franchises
As previously mentioned, Pollard will still be available to feature in his T20 league franchises all across the globe, which should spell good news for Mumbai Indians fans in such hard times. However, on the bright side, MI Paltan can expect Pollard to play with a renewed sense of freedom now that he is free of his national duties.