Pollard, Narine play crucial roles as Mumbai, KKR triumph

KIERON POLLARD and Sunil Narine played crucial roles on Tuesday as Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) triumphed in their respective Indian Premier League (IPL) fixtures, in the United Arab Emirates.

In the second game of Tuesday's pair of matches, between Mumbai and Punjab Kings at Abu Dhabi, Pollard, the West Indies T20 and Trinbago Knight Riders captain, combined with fellow all-rounder, India's Hardik Pandya, to produce an unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 45 in 3.5 overs as the 2020 IPL champions Mumbai reached 137 runs for four wickets in 19 overs, in response to Punjab's 135/6.

Pollard, who was named as the Man of the Match, hit an unbeaten 15, off seven balls, with a six and a four, while Pandya was not out on 40 (30 balls, four fours and two sixes).

Earlier, Pollard took two wickets for eight runs in his solitary over – West Indies' T20 legend Chris Gayle for one and Punjab's captain KL Rahul for 21. Rahul's wicket was Pollard's 300th in T20 cricket, and he became the first player to aggregate 300 wickets and 10,000 runs in the game's shortest format.

Nicholas Pooran, the WI T20 vice-captain, also failed with the bat for Punjab as he was dismissed for two.

At Sharjah, Narine earned the Man of the Match award as he also starred with bat and ball, in KKR's three-wicket win over the Delhi Capitals.

Set a victory target of 128, Narine made 21 (ten balls, two sixes and a four) as KKR made 130/7 with 1.4 overs to spare. The experienced off-spinner captured 2/18 in four overs as Delhi, who were asked to bat first, struggled to 127/9. The other West Indian in this encounter, left-handed batsman Shimron Hetmyer (Delhi), was dismissed for four.