New Delhi, Oct 24 — Newly appointed Mumbai Indians head coach Kieron Pollard admitted that the five-time IPL champions had fallen short of their fans expectations in recent seasons, and said the road back to being a fearsome unit begins with owning up to it.
Pollard, who served as the team's batting coach in the last four IPL seasons, takes over from Mahela Jayawardene, who parted ways with the franchise last weekend. The former West Indies all-rounder's association with MI and its sister franchises goes back to IPL 2010, when he was first signed as a player.
The big-hitting Pollard was part of all five of MI's IPL title-winning campaigns, in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020, as well as their two Champions League T20 triumphs in 2011 and 2013. "You understand as a team that we have not been as great as you want us to be, and that's something the first step to getting better is acknowledging.
“We acknowledge that you are still the most loyal fans to us, the Paltan crew, and hopefully we can continue to show that passion that you have seen over the years, and we can relive some of those memories with some of the new generation cricketers. We look forward to playing with the badge. We look forward to having that fire in our belly, and hopefully see a fearless Mumbai Indians once again," Pollard said in a video posted on the franchise’s social media accounts on Saturday.
Pollard played 189 IPL matches, scoring 3412 runs at a strike rate of 147.32 and picking up 69 wickets. He played his last IPL season in 2022 and retired from the league ahead of the 2023 edition, and moved straight into the role of batting coach.
Outlining his priorities, Pollard said the first job was to understand what needed fixing and to restore the team's identity at its home ground, adding that there was no hiding from the recent slump.
After the IPL 2020 triumph in the UAE, MI haven’t won a title. Though they made it to the playoffs in 2023 and 2025, the side finished tenth and ninth respectively in 2024 and 2026 seasons.
"When you say the first task, I think my first task is understanding what needs to be done. Then when you get into that, bring that spirit and that energy to talk about that. When you walk into Wankhede Stadium, you're not seeing the yellows and the reds and stuff like that.
"You want to see that blue flag flying and you want to see that passion and spirit from the fans and that can only come firstly from us. So that's where all work sort of starts in terms of understanding what we are playing for and who we are playing for. We recognize the fact that we have not been where we wanted to be in the last couple of years. So there's no hiding from that.
"But what's going to happen is that we're going to try our best now to ensure that we continue to play for that badge, the team above self, and then ensure that when the opposition comes, it's something that they remembered from the past. Yes, it's history, but sometimes in order to go forward, you have to go back a little bit and understand. I think that's where it's going to start," he added.
Pollard said the scale of the move to the top job was still sinking in his mind. "I don't feel that it has sunk in sort of just yet. But obviously we have and you have mentioned it in terms of what we have created as a team and now being at the helm. I think it's a surreal sort of feeling when you started, you never envisioned being on the other side of the rope at that time.
"But time has flown by so quickly that a lot of things have happened within the last 15-16 years. Now you sit in this position, wanting to do well for a franchise that has given you so much and you have given so much to them and to the people."
Known for his fiery presence on the field, Pollard said his hunger to win would remain the same in the dugout. "I don't think much can change. I think it's more embedded in you to want to win all the time and to invoke that sort of passion each and every single time.
“For me as an individual, nothing is going to change that much. The fire is going to be burning just as it was on the other side of the rope, but it's just going to be from a further distance, in a way."
Pollard, also the head coach of MI London in the The Hundred men’s competition, credited his predecessor Jayawardene for shaping his understanding of the game - first as an opponent, then as a player under his coaching and later as his assistant in the support staff.
"Those 10 years with Mahela had been fantastic. From Mahela's perspective, obviously, our first sort of meeting would have been as a player and as an opponent. Me being a youngster in the international scene and him playing for Sri Lanka, and captaining Sri Lanka.
"What stood out for me immediately from then was how precise he was from a tactical perspective in that sense. Then having to experience him as a coach, playing under him, I think was even more fantastic for me, understanding the individual and what he brings to the game of cricket. Being able to push his players in different ways because of detail he was in terms of planning.
"That has helped and moulded a lot of us here at Mumbai for the success that we would have been involved over a period of time. So that was fantastic. Then following that, being under him as an assistant, as well as a batting coach, the knowledge that I would have gained over that period of time from someone like him, I have to say I'm blessed to be able to be in that position, to be able to receive all that he had to bring from a different perspective from an opponent into the coaching set-up."