After Kieron Pollard smashed three sixes to finish off the game against KKR, the MI batting coach Robin Singh was all praises for Pollard. He claims that no opposition is actually safe when Pollard is on the wicket. “With someone like Pollard coming in the back end and Jos Buttler just ahead of him, no opposition is ever really safe with any sort of score on the board. As you saw it’s just a question of one over that changes the course of the game. People like Pollard are always needed in the team. His cricket has matured over the years. Last season he played a lot of similar knocks. He has understood his responsibility not just as someone that can strike the ball, but as someone who’s critical to the side and send jitters to the oppositions.” He further goes on to talk about Pollard’s fitness. “He is just getting over his injuries. I think he has come back much earlier to play, much earlier than expected. He has done a lot of rehab and we are quite satisfied with his fitness.”

Robin is also happy with the captain, who oversaw today’s victory over KKR from the crease. He believes that Rohit Sharma might just be one of the top batsmen there in this short format. “I think Rohit has been quite successful in cricket, especially in the shorter formats, as test cricket is a different ball game. He is one of the top batters and his game is suitable for this format, more than anyone else. He has a good stroke arm. We have got a long batting lineup so he has been able to play his game quite freely. You can’t have any inhibition when you’re playing Twenty20 cricket. The game catches up with you very fast, the run rate I mean, and so if you don’t score in the middle or you don’t have a good start its curtains for most teams.”

Robin didn’t seem happy about the drop catches and missed stumping opportunity. “I think we’re always surprised when people drop catches. All catches could have been taken today. I think we all get annoyed when catches are dropped but I don’t think anyone goes out deliberately to embarrass themselves.” He felt that KKR could have been further restricted. “They had a pretty good start. The Minimum is 180 on this track. In spite of us not fielding well and dropping catches we should have restricted them to 160. They got up to a great start but in the end, they faltered. They were 15 runs short.”