Kieron Pollard’s dramatic speech fires up Mumbai Indians to a win against CSK. Pollard was ‘fed up…’

The biggest rivalry in the IPL has been the one between the Mumbai Indians and the Chennai Super Kings. Known as the ‘El Classico’ of the tournament, it is the most high-profile fixture of the IPL.

Both teams share the record for being the most successful teams in the tournament. They have 5 trophies each. With CSK winning the first leg of the fixture, it was Mumbai’s turn to take revenge, and they did.

Clinical performance from MI

The Mumbai Indians were at the top of their game against CSK. In the first fixture between the two teams this season, CSK defeated MI by 4 wickets in Chennai. It was the season opener for both teams. Since then, both the champion teams have had a rough season, occupying the bottom half of the points table.

However, MI took revenge on CSK at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Batting first, CSK were restricted to a total of 176 in 20 overs. It was a subpar total on a high-scoring Wankhede pitch. Mumbai batters came out all guns blazing as they seemed determined. They won the game by 9 wickets with 26 balls to spare.

Kieron Pollard’s pep talk

It was revealed that MI batting coach Kieron Pollard had given a jolting pep talk to the players ahead of the match. Pollard said, “If you look at the start of the game, Mahela (Jayawardene) gave me the opportunity to speak to the guys. One of the things I told them was, ‘I’m fed up of telling Chennai ‘well played’ over the last couple of years.’ The way the guys went out today, very good.”

Talking about SKY’s batting position and promotion to No. 3, he said, “Of course, we wanted him (Suryakumar Yadav) at No. 3. We want him to face as many balls as possible. But even in the back end, he’s dangerous. We try to understand the opposition and where he can make the biggest impact. Against Chennai, he reads spin so well, he can manipulate the field, sweep, reverse, and dominate.”

MI on a winning spree

This was MI’s 3rd consecutive win, as they seemed to be peaking at the right time. With Rohit Sharma back in form, the team can be a serious contender for the playoffs.

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