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In the 17th match of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021, Punjab Kings (PBKS) thrashed Mumbai Indians (MI) by nine wickets to record their second victory in the tournament. The KL Rahul-led side first restricted the defending champions at 131/6 and then chased down the target in 17.4 overs.
During the match, one incident grabbed maximum eyeballs involving Mumbai all-rounder Kieron Pollard. It all happened in the final over of MI, bowled by Mohammad Shami. On the second ball of the over, Pollard, who was at the non-strikers’ end, spotted leaving his crease even before Shami had released the ball.
It was more surprising as Pollard himself was seen giving a ‘mankading’ warning to Shikhar Dhawan in the clash against Delhi Capitals (DC). The incident took place in the 10th over of the DC innings when Pollard had stopped his bowling action and was spotted signalling to Dhawan to return to the crease.
Meanwhile, when Pollard did the same thing, former India cricketer and presently the commentator Murali Kartik criticised Pollard’sPollard’s action demanding penalty of runs for such things.
Netizens, too, did not look happy with Pollard’sPollard’s tactics as they lambasted the Windies superstar for not showing the ‘spirit of cricket’.
Here is how netizens reacted:
Kieron Pollard started running even before the ball was released from Mohammad Shami's hand. pic.twitter.com/dfzUXzN9x6
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) April 23, 2021
https://twitter.com/rohithcool5/status/1385624649300516874
https://twitter.com/paulmwatson/status/1385620765261828101
https://twitter.com/WeBleedBlue007/status/1385621380025118727
Kieron Pollard started running even before the ball was released from Mohammad Shami's hand. pic.twitter.com/JkTitVRddt
— Abhishek Swain🇮🇳😷(Cricket Enthusiast) (@CricCrazyAbhi) April 23, 2021
https://twitter.com/paulmwatson/status/1385620765261828101
https://twitter.com/Abhicricket18/status/1385620464148500481
During the match, Pollard stayed unbeaten on 16 runs as MI posted 131/6 in their allotted 20 overs. For the five-time winners, Rohit Sharma shined with the bat as he scored 63 off 52 balls with five fours and a couple of sixes.
In reply, Punjab easily chased down the target with nine wickets in hand. Captain Rahul scored an unbeaten 60 while Chris Gayle added a valuable 43 not out off 35 balls.
