Mumbai Indians all-rounder Hardik Pandya revealed that his eyes lit up on seeing the off-spinner Krishnappa Gowtham take the ball for the final over of the MI innings.
The duo hit four sixes off Gowtham's over. While Hardik faced the first three balls in the over and managed to score only seven runs, Pollard hit three sixes off the last three balls to propel MI to 191-4 in their 20 overs.
"It was very intense, it was more like mouth-watering that an off-spinner was bowling the 20th over. Me and Pollard were like whoever misses will have to stay at the non-striker's end and just watch and that was me as I missed 2 balls. But Pollard made the most of it," Hardik Pandya told Krunal Pandya after the game.
The number of times me and Kieron Pollard have done this is fantastic: Hardik Pandya
Both Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard have been important finishers for MI for a while now, and Pandya is happy with the way they have delivered performances like this time and again. In yesterday's clash against KXIP, MI at one stage were 87-3 after 14 overs.
But they managed to expose KXIP's weak death bowling, and scored 104 runs off the last six overs. Pollard was the Man of the Match for his brilliant 47 runs off just 20 balls. Hardik also played an important role, scoring 30 runs off only 11 balls.
"It was simple. I feel the number of times me and Pollard have done this is fantastic and I have always enjoyed that part. When I went in it was a clear message that I should go hard at bowlers because I was looking to get some big runs in the end and get to a total where Kings find it difficult. We didn't aim for 192, but we were lucky enough the big man (Kieron Pollard) has done it again and really proud of the way we batted," Hardik Pandya said.
MI play their next game against the Sunrisers Hyderabad at Sharjah on Sunday, October 4th. The Mumbai-based franchise will be looking to make the most of their momentum going into this game.
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