Whether Rajasthan Royals are playing or not, ’s name is always hovering in press conferences with questions surrounding the 15-year-old’s fearless batting approach on everyone’s minds.
batting coach and former all-rounder Kieron Pollard felt that it was exciting to see what the left-hander was doing in the , but cautioned against forgetting him when his purple patch ends and he has a string of low scores.
“At 15 years, I was still at school, playing club cricket. But, again, it’s exciting. It’s very exciting to see, you know, a young guy taking the world by storm. And he’s using his youthful exuberance to his advantage. And long may that continue for him. And, you know, for Indian cricket as well.”
“We continue to churn out the talent. And we just need to continue to encourage him. One of the things I always say is Let’s not be on the bandwagon when he’s here. And if you have a couple of failures, and guys sort of figure him out. We then just trim at the wayside. And we forget all about him. I think that’s the biggest fear for me as an individual, being a cricketer. That we all run with the hype.”
“And then when something happens. And so, again, he’s a talent. He’s doing well. And long may that continue for him,” Pollard said during the vs pre-match press conference on Saturday.
Sunday’s match will see India’s two batting talismen – Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli – face off each other in the IPL. Pollard, however, chose to look at the match from a team’s perspective and not as a battle of individuals.
“Everyone has different motivations in playing for a long period of time. You said 38, 39. Imran Tahir is playing somewhere in the world, and he is about 46 or 47. Dhoni is still playing at 44. Fortunately, I’m still playing around the world at 39. So, again, different things motivate individuals to continue playing.”
“Again, what we tend to do as well, these guys have done well for cricket overall, but we tend to just look at the age, and they need to do this, and they need to do that. I believe we should continue to honour these guys who have put smiles on our faces over a period of time. And let them decide when it’s time. So, as you say, it’s a Rohit-Kohli show. I look at it as Mumbai Indians versus RCB. And let the individuals enjoy this part of their life.”
“They’re still performing, they’re still doing well. And even if they’re not, they deserve the right to decide certain things. So, I’m happy that there are some experienced guys still playing around, because you still need the experienced guys to guide the younger fellas who are going to come through and who are going to be superstars in the next 10 to 15 years,” Pollard added.
Pollard also joined a growing list of present and former players who have voiced against the Impact Player rule in the IPL, admitting that the rule was not allowing players to showcase certain skill sets in their game.
“In terms of getting rid of it, it is beyond my pay grade, per se. But it has definitely, as I said, increased the scores of T20 cricket. Has it increased the scores in international cricket? That I have not diverged much into. Because it is a different dynamic when you lose a couple of wickets early, and you have to consolidate. So the powers that be, they need to look into that to see if it is actually good for cricket or good for TV. Good for individuals.”
“Because with the impact rule, there are some skill sets that are not going to be harnessed in international cricket. So hopefully they are going to see if it is beneficial. Or if not, and that is the rules and regulations, then you just have to go on with it. If you ask me a personal question, if I like it or not, I can say straight away I am not a fan of it,” he said.
