One of the most destructive white ball batsmen of his era, Kieron Pollard is a near constant presence on the T20 circuit. Standing at 6’5” tall, capable of hitting any bowler into the stands and prone to the occasional confrontational send off with ball in hand, Pollard is not a player to do things by half.

Pollard got his first taste of international cricket during the 2007 World Cup on home soil but it was not until the following tournament, in 2011 in India, when the world got to see the big hitting capabilities of the Trinidadian. A 27-ball 60 against Netherlands followed by 94 from just 55 balls against Ireland hinted at what Pollard could do before he rounded off the year with his first ODI hundred during West Indies’ tour to India.

By then, Pollard had already begun his long association with Mumbai Indians in the IPL. Having played for the franchise since 2010, Pollard has scored in excess of 2000 runs and taken over 50 wickets in the IPL as well as winning the competition on three occasions in 2013, 2015 and 2017. Of players to have scored 2000 runs in the IPL, only Virender Sehwag, AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle have a higher strike rate than Pollard’s 145.73; elite company for an elite T20 player.

With the ball, his canny medium pace and variations through cutters and slower balls have caused problems for many a batsman around the world. Renowned for his temperament, Pollard has been entrusted with bowling the last over of a T20 innings over 30 times in his career and he is one of only seven seamers to have taken over 100 wickets in the death overs of T20 matches.

Kieron Pollard was elevated to the post of West Indies One-day and Twenty20 International captain in September 2019. He replaced Jason Holder in the position.

Tall and rugged, Pollard is an aggressive, lower middle-order batsman and clears the boundary with ease. He is also a tidy medium pacer, using subtle changes of pace to useful effect, and an electrifying fielder, his size belies his agility in the field, which has led to him taking some spectacular catches.

Though he has a flattering first-class average of close to 40, he has never appeared in a Test for West Indies and has shown the occasional flashes of brilliance on the international stage in ODIs and T20Is such as his brutal second ODI hundred of 102 against Australia in St. Lucia.

After featuring in over 100 ODIs, Pollard is still yet to play a Test despite a reasonable first-class record with both bat and ball. Nonetheless, his swagger and presence in the shorter formats have enriched the game at both international and domestic level. A pure entertainer, it is never dull when Kieron Pollard is around.