IPL 2016: Darren Sammy reveals why Kieron Pollard hesitated to have a chat with him
West Indies T20 captain Darren Sammy on Sunday made an interesting revelation about Mumbai Indians all-rounder Kieron Pollard, who had insisted on not speaking with him before their match against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Visakhapatnam.
The defending champions suffered a humiliating 85-run loss against the Sunrisers at their new home venue as they were unable to chase a target of 177. The top-order crashed, with Rohit Sharma, Parthiv Patel and Ambati Rayudu walking back for cheap scores.
Pollard and Krunal Pandya crossed the single-digit mark and tried to put some runs on the board, but were caught out in subsequent overs.
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Sammy, who was in the commentary box, made a revelation that Pollard would be furious at him as he is superstitious and had declined to have a chat with Sammy before the match.
Sammy said that on requesting persistently, Pollard decided to talk to him, which the Mumbai Indians star would not have done in normal circumstances. When MI were waddling at 30 for five in the fifth over, the big-hitter entered, but departed for 11 runs (13 balls).
After his dismissal, Sammy also revealed on air that his Caribbean teammate would be angry at him.
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The T20 World Cup winning skipper was also heard praising Pollard after his fellow commentators had asked Sammy to describe the Trinidad-born cricketer. Sammy called him a "big-hitter" and "match-finisher", but even before he could complete his answer, Moises Henriques dismissed Pollard in the ninth over.
SRH opener Shikhar Dhawan scored 82 off just 57 balls and laid the platform for the team along with contributions from skipper David Warner (48 off 33) and Yuvraj Singh (39 off 23) at the venue.
However, MI put on a horrendous show with the bat and were dismissed for 92, their second biggest loss in terms of run-margin. Harbhajan Singh at number eight put on the highest runs for the team, scoring 21 off 22 balls.
Sammy, who was a part of Royal Challengers Bangalore last year, was unpicked in this season of the IPL. He became a part of the commentary team and made his first appearance during the match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Kings XI Punjab at the Eden gardens on 4 May.