Sridharan Sriram, the batting coach of Kings XI Punjab (KXIP), praised the Mumbai Indians (MI) cricketer Kieron Pollard for his extraordinary batting performance to beat KXIP on last Wednesday (10th April) night at Wankhede Stadium (Mumbai).
With the help of KL Rahul‘s brilliant century (100* off 64 balls), KXIP managed to score 197/4 in 20 overs. In reply, the host side MI were losing their wickets at regular intervals while their batsmen were failing to cross the 25-run mark.
In the absence of the captain Rohit Sharma, Kieron Pollard was leading the MI side on that night who came to bat at no.4 and changed that game with the time progress. While the other MI batsmen were failing to perform strongly, the Caribbean batsman almost single-handedly guided the side to the memorable victory.
The right-handed batsman played an excellent innings of 83 runs off just 31 balls with the help of three fours and ten sixes. While he completed his 14th IPL half-century in just 22 balls, he became more dangerous batsman after that.
Though the KXIP pacer Ankit Rajpoot dismissed him in the final over, MI won that thrilling game on the final ball of that match.
Talking about that marvelous innings, Sridharan Sriram said after that match, “We have seen Andre Russell (of Kolkata Knight Riders) doing it a few times. (But) this was extraordinary. To do 13 an over for like 13 overs – took some doing and only someone like Pollard could do that.”
KXIP batting coach defended the bowlers and the middle-order batsmen
Sridharan Sriram defended the KXIP bowlers. He believes that they had good plans, but Kieron Pollard was unstoppable.
He added, “At that point of time you have to be positive and hopefully he mis-hits one. I think our plans were good but just that today he was unstoppable.”
The KXIP batting coach feels that they managed a good total in the first innings. While the openers KL Rahul and Chris Gayle provided a 116-run partnership, KL Rahul’s century helped them to score 197/4 (20 overs).
Sridharan Sriram said, “We didn’t have any target. I thought 185-190 was par for this wicket we were happy what we got.”
Though KXIP had the dominant start during their innings, they failed to maintain that after Chris Gayle‘s (63 runs) dismissal. In the late moment, KL Rahul’s excellent batting helped them to put a challenging total on the board.
Defending the KXIP batsmen for getting slowdown, Sridharan Sriram said, “These things (slowing down) just tend to happen. Someone can’t keep hitting for all the 20 overs. It’s hard to get going like that.”
Sridharan Sriram is happy with the bowling combination
The former Indian ODI cricketer has also defended their playing combination where they have only five genuine bowlers.
He said, “That’s how our combination works right now. We have had success as a bowling unit doing this. You got to take such a day like this one; can’t do much.”
In the ongoing IPL season, KXIP has earned eight points after playing seven matches. They will play their next game on Saturday (13th April) night when they will meet Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at Bengaluru.