Tristan Stubbs cricket: Why is Kieron Pollard not playing today’s IPL 2022 match between Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians?

Why Kieron Pollard not playing today: The most successful Indian Premier League franchise has left out its vice-captain tonight.

During the 59th match of the ongoing 15th season of the Indian Premier League between Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma has won the toss and chose to field.

“We will field first. It’s the nature of the ground and what suits our team. Looks a good track. Hope it plays well throughout the 40 overs. It’s brilliant to play against Chennai, it’s always like that. We need to try and win the game,” Sharma told Star Sports at the toss.

Defending champions Chennai Super Kings captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was unperturbed by the prospect of setting a total for they have done the same well in this season.

“It [batting first] has worked for us. We are playing with the same team. When a lot of is at stake, you need to do the homework and focus on the process, irrespective of the opposition,” Dhoni told Star Sports at the toss.

Why is Kieron Pollard not playing vs CSK today?

Unlike Super Kings, Indians have made a couple of changes to their Playing XI for this match. While they have swapped Hrithik Shokeen and Murugan Ashwin yet again, debutant batter Tristan Stubbs has come in for vice-captain Kieron Pollard.

Pollard, who is celebrating his 35th birthday today, has been left out to “keep an eye on the future”. Stubbs, who has joined overseas batters namely Tim David and Dewald Brevis to make his debut for MI this season, was included as a replacement for injured England fast bowler Tymal Mills.

“Keeping an eye on the future, [Kieron] Pollard is out and [Tristan] Stubbs is in. [Hrithik] Shokeen comes in for [Murugan] Ashwin. He [Pollard] was the one who came up to us and he was ready for it [getting dropped]. We want to try out a few players, got to see what they have to offer,” Sharma mentioned.

In 11 IPL 2022 matches, Pollard has scored 144 runs at an average and strike rate of 14.40 and 107.46 respectively. In the 14 overs that he’s bowled this season, Pollard’s four wickets have come at an average of 31.25, an economy rate of 8.92 and a strike rate of 21.