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Kieron Pollard is known for his explosive batting and handy bowling skills in white-ball cricket. However, the cricketing world got a glimpse of how good the Caribbean player is on the field as he displayed exceptional skills white performing his duties on the boundary line. Pollard’s flying catch sent Abu Dhabi Knight Riders fiery batter Andre Russell back to the pavilion thus giving a crucial breakthrough to MI Emirates.
Kieron Pollards exceptional fielding skills keep MI Emirates hopes alive
The incident took place during the 19th over of the game as Knight Riders were heading towards a gigantic total against Emirates. A short-pitch ball from Alzarri Joseph was pulled away by Russell with the intent to hit a maximum. However, the ball was too close to the body of the Knight Riders’ power-hitter and didn’t get the momentum Russell expected.
The ball kept sailing towards the long off area where Pollard was deployed. The 37-year-old dived in front to take a remarkable catch at a time when the ball was expected to land a few metres before his position. The catch sent Russell back to the pavilion who hit a maximum on the very first delivery of his innings and was looking in fine form. Russell scored 6 runs and played just 2 balls in his short-lived innings.
Here’s the video:
KIERON POLLARD, TAKE A BOW! 🫡
Russell goes big with a maximum, but the very next ball finds Pollard’s safe hands! 🙌#MIEvADKR #DPWorldILT20 #AllInForCricket #EnterTheEpic @DPWorldUAE @DP_World @ilt20onzee @MIEmirates pic.twitter.com/xxagEwAI13
— International League T20 (@ILT20Official) January 24, 2025
Also WATCH: Mohammad Amir does a Pushpa celebration after dismissing Rohan Mustafa in ILT20 2025
Emirates falls short of the target
Even though Russell could not score big runs for his franchise in the International League T20 (ILT20), the Knight Riders did manage to put together a competitive total of 182/7 in their 20 overs. An emphatic display of power-hitting from Jason Holder in which he scored 22 off 7 balls and a 55-run knock from Alishan Sharafu enabled the home side to reach this total.
In response, the Emirates batters could not give ample support to Pollard from the other end whose 69-run knock off 49 balls was the standout performance for the visitors. Despite his heroics on the field and a brave stand against Knight Riders’ bowling unit, the Emirates could only score 140/6 in their 20 overs and fell short of the target by 42 runs. With 3 wins in the tournament so far, both sides are now level on points although Emirates have a slight advantage over Knight Riders on net run rate.
