The last that Kieron Pollard featured in an international T20 for the West Indies was a little over 6 months ago. In three games held in India, Pollard managed scores of 14, 6 and a DNB.
Had those been school grades, you’d consider the ward overwhelmingly short of passing marks.
In the last T20 that pushed the final nail in the West Indian coffin, Kieron Pollard went for 29 off his 3. That’s nearly 10 an over.
What was telling of his failure was that of the highly inexperienced eleven, Pollard had the most experience of playing in India.
Yet, he wasn’t able to flex the familiar muscles or break into his famous six-hitting shenanigans.
There was none of that.
Today, with youngsters like Pooran, Hetmyer, Hope and Cottrell firmly established and going great guns- it feels like the last Pollard wielded the ‘SS’ bat was several moons ago.
What separates cricketers from felines is that only cats, as they say mythically, have nine lives.
Yet, in being picked to represent the national side yet again, it could be said, Kieron Pollard has found a second life.
Has he not?
A few hours ago, when it was announced that along with Narine, Pollard was picked for the first 2 T20s against India, fans of familiar West Indian firepower with the bat and those who love dashing Caribbean batting may have found themselves crushing on the Trinidadian once again.
You can simply visit his strike-rate and stand in pure admiration. From 50 innings, he’s launched into 40 sixes already and boasts of a T20 strike-rate of 128.
But make no mistake.
Kieron Pollard will have to live magnificently, passionately and breathe with all his gut and might if he’s to make something out of his second wind.
With there being no dearth of talent in the current crop, the West Indies are somewhere destined to cultivate a season of rich harvest.
Even Fabian Allen can power a few blows. When Lewis gets going, the boundaries appear shorter. And with Russell back in the hunt again, fielders may just be toy soldiers.
Harsha, in a tweet a few hours ago, underlined that with Pollard returning, maybe there are now 9 batsmen in that side facing India.
So should Pollard- having spent well over half a year on the sidelines- consider himself lucky?
There are no convenient answers to that.
But it seems under a newly structured board with seemingly reinvigorated policymakers- Grave and Skerritt- at the helm, Pollard’s useful all-round skills have been sought again.
The order of the day suggests that the team component should rely on the exuberance of the youth but not without the weightage of experience.
To every Hetmyer, there’s a Russell in the squad. Similarly, for every Cottrell-saltue, there’s the silencing power of Pollard’s six-hitting.
Yet, West Indies’ own “KP” has stats that don’t exactly bewilder. Wondering how? Well, to lovers of his big, muscular strikes down the ground, maybe putting on some reading glasses would be a good idea.
The man who’s yet to take strike in 2019 for West Indies returns to the stable at the back of averages that leave little to imagination.
From 6 T20s in 2017, Pollard made 26. That’s not his average. That’s the tally of his runs.
Next year, he played 3 games and made 20 runs, even lesser than his aggregate before.
Not once in the past three years has the big fella breached his career strike rate in T20s. At 54 the previous year and 59 before that, Kieron Pollard- revere for his towering personality- has merely been a paper tiger.
We’ve been familiar with his woes against spin. Never has anyone seen the mighty right-hander club an Ashwin, Lyon, Yasir or anyone noted for that matter akin to a giant of the game.
On that note, it’s somewhat clear that Pollard’s much-talked about return is in lieu of his services to Caribbean cricket over the years, not so much basis current form. Add the hype his name automatically generates in the shortest format and he becomes a ‘must-have’ headline-material.
All’s clear for the big man, nonetheless. The 3 T20s in India’s tour to Windies will determine what’s really remaining in Kieron Pollard. Will we remember the name?
