Kieron Pollard still hopeful of making it into the West Indies World Cup squad

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Pollard was in sensational form on Wednesday against the KXIP.
Pollard was in sensational form on Wednesday against the KXIP.

Kieron Pollard says he is still hoping to be a part of the team that plays the World Cup. The hard-hitting all-rounder last took the field for his country, back in 2016.

Disputes in contracts between the players and the board have weakened the quality of cricket of the West Indies. This has been the case for several years now. The 2014 tour of India is famously remembered for the same reasons, being called off midway through the series.

There have been signs of improvement though, in recent times, under new leadership at the board. Also, opener and former skipper Chris Gayle returning to the ODI side for the recent series against England is a big bonus ahead of the World Cup.

Much like Pollard, Gayle is also known for his six-hitting power and he returned to the West Indies side after a year, when he was a part of the T20 side that toured India last year.

“I am a cricketer, I am 31 years of age and I have a lot of cricket left in me,” Pollard told the reporters after smashing an astounding 83 runs in just 31 balls to lead his team Mumbai Indians to a thrilling last-ball win against the Kings XI Punjab on Wednesday.

“Every day I get the opportunity to play, I want to do my best. There has been a lot of turmoil in West Indies cricket over the last couple of years. But we have seen in the last couple of weeks there’s a change,” Pollard added.

Pollard is one of those guys who was blacklisted by the cricket board. “The most I can do every time I step on the cricket field is try to put runs on the board. There are people there who have the job to select and whatever and we’ll see how that goes. As I said, I’m 31, Chris Gayle is still playing, he’s 39, and he’s still whacking it all around.”

Pollard was the stand-in skipper for the Mumbai Indians in the absence of Rohit Sharma who was injured during a net session. Pollard helped his side with an unlikely win against KXIP, chasing a total of 197, which was built on KL Rahul’s first IPL ton.

Pollard hammered 10 sixes and three fours in his knock for Mumbai’s fourth win in the six games they have played so far after they needed 104 runs to win off 48 balls.

The West Indian players have shown the world in this IPL, that they have many players who can win matches single-handedly, in Russell, Gayle, Narine and now Pollard.