A franchise giant, Kieron Pollard didn’t quite have the same impact on the international stage-Opinion News , Firstpost

There was a time, not too long back, when cricketers allowed themselves the luxury of one final press conference in an active capacity, one last interaction with the media before they entered the realms of a ‘former international’. All that is history, of course.

In keeping with the modern trend, Kieron Pollard announced his retirement from international cricket through a social media post on Wednesday. The West Indian limited-overs skipper’s decision might have come like a bolt from the blue to the uninitiated, but obviously, a lot of thought must have gone behind the call, especially with the next T20 World Cup less than six months away.

In so many ways, Pollard has been an enigma since his international debut, as a 19-year-old under Brian Lara in the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean. There seemed no reason why the powerfully built all-rounder should not set the international stage alight. He was a terrific striker of the cricket ball, strong and powerful but also blessed with touch and timing. His bowling wasn’t express, even if his frame might have suggested otherwise, but he was smart and crafty, nipping it here, swinging it there, cutting it here and there. For such a big man, he moved brilliantly across the turf, was agile and nimble and athletic. He was the complete limited-overs package, an all-rounder worth his weight in gold.

Yet, Pollard reserved his best, it seemed, more for the various clubs and franchises he represented than West Indies, for whom he played 224 games, all of the limited-overs version. Indeed, only David Miller has played more white-ball games for his country (238) without playing a Test match, which is a nice piece of trivia to be aware of than any great reflection of either man’s prowess as a red-ball player.

That Pollard wasn’t enamoured with the longer version is obvious from the fact that he only played 27 first-class games over an eight-year period. His numbers aren’t shabby – 1,584 runs at 37.71, inclusive of four centuries and a best of 174 – but he didn’t appear to relish the prospect of four or five days in a row on the park, choosing instead to focus his incredible energies for club and country in the 50- and 20-over versions.

By all accounts, Pollard is a sensational limited-overs exponent. Across the globe, he has played 588 Twenty20 games for a variety of teams, 101 of those for the collection of Caribbean islands who grace international cricket under the name of West Indies. That’s where the numbers make for interesting reading. In all T20 cricket (before Thursday’s IPL game between his Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings), Pollard has amassed 11,523 runs at 31.31, and a strike-rate of 151.73. He has also taken 305 wickets, economy rate 8.22. Those are exceptional numbers, among the very best in the world.

Contrast these with his international equivalents. No more than 1,569 runs in 101 T20Is at 25.30 and a strike-rate of 135.14, 42 wickets at an economy of 8.32. Clearly, for all his immense talent, Pollard found the otherwise demanding cauldron of franchise cricket a lot easier to stride than he did international cricket, even though he was a member of the West Indian team that won the 2012 T20 World Cup in Sri Lanka and is one of only two batsmen, apart from Yuvraj Singh, to have struck six sixes in an over in a T20I.

If the 34-year-old Trinidadian’s T20I stats pale in comparison only with his international record, his 50-over production chart for West Indies is a lot more disappointing. Just 2,161 runs and 55 wickets from 123 ODIs don’t do justice to the enormous potential nestling in a strong exterior. It might be argued that Pollard is an impact player whose worth can’t be measured through sheer numbers alone, but he hasn’t quite turned in the same game-turning performances for West Indies as he has for, say, Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League or Trinbago Knight Riders in the Caribbean Premier League.

Perhaps, like many others of his era who found Cricket West Indies (as it is now known) a confrontational elder than a benevolent parent, Pollard struggled to summon the same passion while playing for West Indies as he did for the various franchises that cherished and celebrated him to no end. Indeed, he wasn’t picked by the authorities to the national side for nearly a year and a half between 2014 and 2016 in the immediacy of West Indies pulling out midway through their tour of India in December 2014 with one ODI, one T20I and three Tests still to be played following a pay dispute between the players and the West Indian board.

He was only recalled in June 2016, by which time Darren Sammy had led the Windies to a second T20 World Cup crown, but the wheel came a full circle in 2019 when Pollard was named the captain of the ODI and T20I team following the 2019 50-over World Cup in England. Under him, West Indies had one of their worst T20 World Cup campaigns in the UAE last year, registering a solitary win in Group A of the Super 12s and only finishing ahead of Bangladesh in their six-team pool.

Clearly, as they seek to win an unprecedented third T20 World Cup in Australia later this year, West Indies will miss Pollard’s drive and leadership as much as they will his unquestioned all-round skills even in the second half of his career. That being said, they will have the chance of turning a new leaf, divorcing themselves from an admittedly glorious past and segueing into a promising future, most likely under the stewardship of the outrageously gifted Nicholas Pooran, Pollard’s fellow Trinidadian.

Already, Dwayne Bravo has bid adieu to international cricket and no one knows what Chris Gayle’s status is, though the maverick 42-year-old Jamaican greeted his good friend’s retirement by tweeting, “Can’t believe you retired before me.”

Under Pooran, West Indies will seek to rebuild and re-establish their credentials as a crack T20I outfit, looking to carry forward the legacy shaped by Darren Sammy and built around the big three of Gayle, Bravo and the indefatigable Pollard.

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