Mumbai, Apr 26 (PTI) Mumbai Indians batting coach Kieron Pollard on Saturday batted for giving some leeway and support to experienced players during their tough times, while praising Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya for the way they have fought against the odds on the field and off it.

Rohit has bounced back from a string of ordinary scores to record two consecutive fifties in this IPL, whereas Pandya is floating seamlessly through his roles as the leader and all-rounder after a turbulent run last year.

Also Read | IND-W vs SL-W 1st ODI 2025 Preview: Likely Playing XI, Key Battles, H2H, and More About Sri Lanka Women vs India Women Tri-Nation Series Match 1.

“For us (MI), we always had that belief that he's (Rohit) going to come good. I just want to continue to urge you guys, at times, sometimes it gives guys opportunity,” Pollard told the media ahead of MI's match against Lucknow Super Giants on Sunday.

“There's dips, there's low confidence. But for someone who has played this sport for a long time, you have these moments and sometimes you just need that extra support from people.

Also Read | DC vs RCB IPL 2025, Delhi Weather, Rain Forecast and Pitch Report: Here's How Weather Will Behave for Delhi Capitals vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru at Arun Jaitley Stadium.

“Now, we're singing his praises; we're all very happy. In the Mumbai dressing room, we were happy at the start as well, knowing that it was going to happen and long may it continue so the headlines are going to be about that.”

Pollard said he was happy to see Pandya coming out strong from the challenges that he faced last year. Pandya had to go through intense reactions from fans after taking over MI captaincy at a time he was also facing personal problems.

“He's enjoying cricket, as we have all seen from international cricket, (from) winning World Cups to Champions Trophy to everything. It's (about) an individual that has gone through a lot,” Pollard said.

“For me personally, not getting in too much depth, it's great to see a human being that has been challenged in different facets of not only cricket but of life, come out and continue to show what cricket and what winning means to him as a human being.

“We are all human beings in this world so sometimes we need to give a bit of leeway to some individuals at certain time,” he added.

Pollard said highs and lows are part of the journey as an individual and he was happy seeing Pandya's progress.

“I continue to watch his journey as I've seen his journey starting in Mumbai Indians since 2015,” he said.

“Seeing the ups, seeing the downs, seeing the ups, seeing the downs, seeing the ups again. Who says he won't have another down? And who says he's not going to have another up as well? So that's what life is about and that's what the journey is about,” he added.

The former West Indies all-rounder said MI are on a roll with four wins on the trot but didn't want to draw much from the time the team had lost four of their first five matches.

“We're going to continue to improve our fielding. Yes, from a catching efficiency perspective, we are right up there to the top,” he said.

“There's always areas to improve because in two games' time, the question can be totally different for us so as a unit, we just continue to try to get better and see where that lands us,” he said.

While Pollard admitted the approach to powerplay has changed with batters going all-out against the bowlers, he did point out that the tactic may not necessarily apply to all the matches.

“Yeah, there's a shift, there's a change. But how sustainable is it going to be for a period of time? Because at one juncture, we speak about guys getting 70, 80, 100 (runs in the powerplay),” he said.

“As I made a joke as well with the guys that let's not get carried away that we need to score 1,000 runs in one T20 match, because the basics of cricket still applies.

“There's a lot of different things that you have to take into consideration, match per match: conditions, bowlers, capabilities, things like that. It's a nice shift for the fans, but we still want that little bit of batsmanship to continue from a cricketing perspective,” he said.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)