Pollard is among a small set of players who have represented just one franchise in their entire IPL career. Others on the list with a cut-off of at least 100 matches are Virat Kohli (Royal Challengers Bangalore since 2008), Sunil Narine (Kolkata Knight Riders since 2011), Jasprit Bumrah (Mumbai since 2013) and Lasith Malinga (Mumbai since 2013). ) are Stayed twice in Mumbai).
It was Pollard’s explosive hitting, athletic fielding and smart performance with the ball during the 2009 Champions League T20 that caught the collective attention of the IPL franchises. While he set his base price at USD 200,000 in the 2010 auction, four franchises – Mumbai, Chennai Super Kings, Royal Challengers and Knight Riders – bid as high as USD 750,000 for him. Pollard became the first of the two players to play in the IPL. [Shane Bond was the second] Signed through the silent tie-breaker rule, where franchises were asked to quote on a blank check the highest bid to hire the player.
It was a remarkable turn of fortune for Pollard, a tall and well-built all-rounder from Trinidad and Tobago, who had been left “disappointed” only a year earlier when he had set a base price of just USD 60,000 at the 2009 auction. However, it was not sold. .
Prior to each auction, Pollard was an automatic retainer for Mumbai, including in 2022, when he was the franchise’s fourth retained player for INR 6 crore (approximately USD 800,000). But if Pollard needed a reminder of the challenge of “maintaining” his form, it came in IPL 2022. In 11 matches, Pollard scored just 144 runs, and his average of 14.40 and strike rate of 107.46 were his lowest in any IPL season. Things have not improved since then as Pollard underwent knee surgery during the English summer and then played in the CPL, where he led Trinbago Knight Riders, who failed to make the last four for the first time.
As for Mumbai, their decision to release Pollard came with a view to entering the 2023 auction with a bigger purse. Mumbai are known for having long-standing relationships with their players, and Pollard’s switch to the coaching staff was no surprise.
