New Delhi, Oct 24 — New Mumbai Indians head coach Kieron Pollard named Robin Singh, Phil Simmons, Mahela Jayawardene and Ricky Ponting as the coaches who have influenced him the most, and credited them for showcasing qualities which have left a mark on him.
Pollard spent the last four IPL seasons as MI's batting coach, after having retired as a player from the league ahead of the 2023 edition, and has now been elevated to the top job. He takes charge of MI ahead of IPL 2027 after Jayawardene, under whom he worked for a decade, parted ways with the franchise last week. Ponting, his former MI captain, will now be his rival head coach at Punjab Kings.
"One coach I've taken a lot from is Robin Singh. I came in 2010, and he was a coach at that time. And the amount of work, the work ethic, part of it, was next to none. He didn't know when to stop, right! But it was something that I'll never forget because the work that he would have put in, would have given me the opportunity to go out and perform.
"Then you look at somebody like a Phil Simmons outside of the IPL zone; the calmness that he brings and it gives you the opportunity to express yourself as a person and as a cricketer. Use your instinctive abilities to make decisions as a leader and as a cricketer, and then we come and we speak about it after, and try to dissect certain things as to why it would have happened that way.
"So those are the couple of people, and then obviously I spoke about Mahela, the tactical genius of what he brought; it's next to none, and that sometimes is taken for granted. Things that people would not think about, set fields and that that was, from a fantastic perspective.
"And again, one of my rivals would now be my rival coach. You will walk into a wall for somebody like Ricky Ponting, the way he motivates you, but when he's finished with you in that perspective, not even a wall can stop you at that time," said Pollard in a video on the franchise’s social media accounts on Saturday.
MI was the only IPL team Pollard played for in the IPL. Signed ahead of the 2010 season, he turned out for them in 189 matches till 2022, scoring 3412 runs and taking 69 wickets. Pollard was part of all five of the franchise's IPL title triumphs in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020, respectively.
He also won the Champions League T20 titles with MI in 2011 and 2013. Pollard now inherits a side that has lost some of its old dominance. MI reached the playoffs in 2023 and 2025 but finished 10th in 2024 and ninth in 2026.
His ties with the MI network extend well beyond the IPL. Pollard is head coach of MI London in The Hundred and has played for MI New York in Major League Cricket, MI Cape Town in the SA20 and MI Emirates in the ILT20.
Still active on the franchise circuit, Pollard will, however, turn out for Joburg Super Kings in the upcoming SA20 season after they signed him at the auction earlier this month, with MI Cape Town making no rival bid. In the Caribbean Premier League, where MI do not own a team, Pollard has represented his home side Trinbago Knight Riders since 2019.
Reflecting on how T20 cricket has changed over the years, Pollard said bowlers would have to work much harder to keep up with the batters. "It has changed a lot. It's gone from 140 and 160 being competitive to trying to not get 120 in the power play. So that in itself, should tell you how that landscape has changed. Yes, it has gotten more on the on the batter side, but it's all good.
"I think one thing in life is change, and being able to adapt to change, and for us as a team and for myself as an individual, that's the challenge. It's never going to be the same, but being able to catch up with the evolution of where T20 cricket is going, or come up with methods where you can, as I say, slow the batsmen down.
"That means the bowlers will have to work doubly, doubly hard in order for that to happen. But again, the game is going fast, but we still have an opportunity as individuals to bring it back to a level and control what we can at different times."
On the growing role of analytics, something which will dictate MI’s retention choices ahead of the mid-November deadline and help them prepare for the mini auction in Goa on December 16, Pollard admitted to spending far more time with the team analyst as a coach than as a player but pointed out that data could not replace a cricketer's instinct.
"I think it's going to be a fight, but no, I think data is important. When you look at it from this perspective, for the last four years, I've seen a different part of data. Whereas when I was playing, and I can safely tell you, the analyst, I spent more time with him in the last four years than I spent with him in about 13 years of playing.
"But getting to understand what the data brings helps you as an individual and helps prepare you as well. But I still believe the natural instinct of the cricketers still needs to be taken into account. So there just needs to be the balance as to how much data and the human part of cricket that is still there because we are still humans playing.
“It's not a robotic game. And when you put in a length, that's exactly what is there. Different variations have happened from the time the ball is delivered before it gets to the batter," he added.
Pollard also felt players had become too guarded in showing their personalities, partly because of the game's disciplinary rules, and wanted MI's players to express themselves freely.
"I think that's very important, and that's something that has been leaving the game and is not true. Sometimes a lot of the guys wanted to show their personality and be free, but through the rules and regulations of the demerit points and all of these things, I think at times we have gotten a bit robotic in that sense.
"So, guys don't actually sometimes try to show their true personality, and I think that is what is missing a little bit. So for us, as a Mumbai Indians team, I think it's very important that we show personalities because each and every individual in our dressing room has something that people would not have seen that has gotten them to where they have gotten at the stage, and that is where you need to bring it out."