The new Mumbai Indians (MI) head coach Kieron Pollard wants his team to "be brave" to overcome the fear of failure and wants to show MI fans that they have the "fire in our belly" to overturn the kind of results they have had in the last few seasons. The most challenging part, Pollard said, was going to be if the results don't go their way, but he said "nothing is going to sort of faze me."
MI haven't won the IPL since 2020 and have been under different coaches since then. This will be Pollard's first assignment as head coach in the IPL; until now he was the batting coach since he stopped playing the tournament in 2022.
"Most fun part is that you are able to set the tone in any environment for the team," Pollard said of his new task. "So that's going to be fun. Being a Caribbean sort of guy, I think that is something, that fun and entertainment and relaxation is something that I'm big on, because then you're able to perform when you are in that sort of zone. Obviously, the challenging part is going to be if results are not going your way. Nothing is going to sort of faze me."
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MI boast a star-studded side with the likes of Hardik Pandya as captain, T20 World Cup-winning captain Rohit Sharma at the top and Jasprit Bumrah leading the bowling attack, among others. Pollard's challenge will be to get the best out of the same players to turn the side's fortunes around.
"I think majority of it is man management," Pollard said of managing his players. "It comes down to conversations, one-on-one conversations. Yes, it comes down to the team talks and the team tactics. But cricket is made up of a group of individuals, who have to play a role in order for the team to win. So, it's not always about what the team is going to do, but what you, as an individual and your role and capacity is going to give, to the team. So, what over the years, what has brought success as well, is the time that you sit and you spend speaking about cricket outside of the formal meetings of a team meeting. That's where you learn majority of your cricket, and I think that's where the work is really, really done."
One of the biggest challenges for any team in the IPL is the growing scores on Indian pitches, with a 200 total becoming the new normal and 250 targets being chased down in the last three years. Totals of 225 or more have been chased down as many as 11 times in the IPL, seven of which came in 2026 alone, and 10 since 2024.
"It has changed a lot," Pollard said of the changing scoring trends. "It's gone from 140, 160 being competitive to trying to not get 120 in the powerplay. So that in itself, should tell you how that landscape has changed. Yes, it has gotten more 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."
"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, and being able to push his players in different ways because of how detailed he was in terms of planning, and that has helped moulded a lot of us here at Mumbai, for the success that we would have involved in over a period of time."
Pollard on Mahela Jayawardene
Pollard also said players should back their "natural instinct" more despite the increasing use of data.
"I think it's going to be a fight, but no, I think data is important," he said, "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, it helps you as an individual, 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."
While looking back at the learnings from Jayawardene, who coached the franchise from 2017 to 2022 and 2025 to 2026, Pollard said he was highly influenced by his meticulous planning. MI won their last three IPL titles - 2017, 2019 and 2020 - under Jayawardene. Pollard also spoke highly of the "tactical genius of what he brought," which he said "sometimes is taken for granted."
"You know what stood out for me immediately from then (their playing days) was how precise he was from a tactical perspective in that in that sense," he said. "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, and being able to push his players in different ways because of how detailed he was in terms of planning, and that has helped moulded a lot of us here at Mumbai, for the success that we would have involved in over a period of time. So that is fantastic.
"And 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 different perspective from opponent into the coaching setup."