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Zaheer Khan, Mumbai Indians’ Director of Cricket Operations, has opened up about his side’s retention strategy. The five-time IPL champions Mumbai Indians shocked many experts and fans of the cricket fraternity when they decided to retain 34-year-old West Indies all-rounder Kieron Pollard.

Zaheer Khan admitted that it was the influence of the all-rounder in the dressing room, which prompted them to retain him. The Mumbai-based side has several talented and young players in their ranks, making it even more difficult for them to choose just four men for retention.

Kieron Pollard(Photo: Surjeet Yadav/IANS)

Zaheer Khan: Kieron Pollard Is One Of The Strongest Finishers Of T20s

Mumbai retained a maximum of four players, the first of which was skipper Rohit Sharma (Rs 16 crore). The second player on the list was pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah (Rs 12 cr) followed by dashing middle-order batter Suryakumar Yadav (Rs 8 crore). Mumbai Indians made just one overseas retention in dashing West Indies skipper Kieron Pollard for Rs 6 crore.

Zaheer Khan heaped praise on Kieron Pollard for being the leader of the pack for the longest time. He reckoned that Kieron Pollard is still among one of the best finishers in the game.

“Pollard has been the leader of this group for the longest time. One of the strongest finishers in the game. His influence around the team has been great. He leads from the front with Rohit Sharma. So each guy who are retained, they are leaders in their own positions, and in their own rights,” Zaheer Khan said.

MI also picked their main all-rounder Kieron Pollard who has won them numerous matches from challenging situations and has smashed 214 sixes for the franchise. Kieron Pollard is the second-highest run-getter in T20 cricket(11326 runs in 573 T20s), The big-fellow has also picked 300 wickets with the ball in the shortest format, making him one of the perfect players in the T20s.

Kieron Pollard Has Been With Mumbai Indians Franchise Since 2010

Kieron Pollard is the longest-serving player in the Mumbai Indians squad. He has been with the team since 2010 and won five titles with them. Kieron Pollard has scored 3268 runs in 178 IPL games averaging about 30, and a phenomenal strike rate of nearly 150. He has also taken 65 scalps in IPL history with a solitary 4 wicket haul. All of his IPL matches came for Mumbai Indians.

“Lot of the players started their journey here, they’ve groomed themselves here and a lot of the players from this group have gone on to represent their respective countries. So that’s what you feel proud about. It’s not the end of the road, that’s how one should look at it. So there’s still a chance that we get a lot of them back,” Zaheer concluded.

Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Instagram

Mumbai Indians were forced to release some of the core members of their watch-winning group such as all-format Hardik Pandya, keeper Ishan Kishan, Proteas keeper Quinton de Kock, spin all-rounder Krunal Pandya, and pacer Trent Boult. On the players that Mumbai couldn’t retain, Zaheer Khan expressed pride that they started their career with Mumbai Indians and went on to represent their countries in international cricket.

Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Chris Lynn, Saurabh Tiwary, Anmolpreet Singh, Aditya Tare, Quinton de Kock, Piyush Chawla, Anukul Roy, Jimmy Neesham, Marco Jansen, Adam Milne, Trent Boult, Dhawal Kulkarni, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Mohsin Khan, Yudhvir Singh, Arjun Tendulkar, Rahul Chahar, Jayant Yadav, were the players who were released by Mumbai Indians before IPL 2022.