Kieron Pollard blasted an unbeaten 87 off just 34 balls as Mumbai Indians pulled off the their highest-ever run chase in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The defending champions snapped Chennai Super Kings' (CSK) five-match winning streak, beating them by four wickets in a high-scoring thriller. Pollard came in to bat at a tricky situation after MI had lost three wickets in succession while chasing a mammoth total. However, Pollard rose to the occasion and smashed the fastest fifty of the season off just 17 balls. Pollard's knock was studded with six fours and eight maximums as Mumbai Indians overhauled the CSK total on the last ball of the match. The high-scoring thriller completely enthralled fans and experts alike and took to twitter to express their emotions.
Former cricketers Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Aakash Chopra, Dale Steyn among others praised Pollard for his powerful knock as Mumbai Indians pulled off the second highest run chase in the IPL history.
For Pollard, it was a night when whatever he touched, it turned to gold. Apart from his explosive batting, Pollard also excelled with the ball in hand, emerging as MI's best bowler on the night both in terms of wickets as well as economy. He picked up two wickets off two balls as Mumbai Indians pulled things back albeit for a brief period before Ambati Rayudu's unbeaten fifty helped CSK to a mammoth total.
Rohit only gave him two overs and he returned with the figures of 2/12 in a game where their premier fast bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult both conceded in excess of 10 runs an over.