Kieron Pollard is no stranger to pulling off epic catches in the Indian Premier League but he might have just topped all his efforts over the years with his dismissal of Suresh Raina in the match against Chennai Super Kings on Wednesday in Mumbai.
Pollard, known for his athletic abilities on the field, especially along the boundary ropes, pulled off a couple of blinders at the Wankhede as Mumbai Indians brought the CSK juggernaut to a halt.
The title holders made a poor start in the run chase by losing their top three batsmen Shane Watson, Ambati Rayudu and Suresh Raina within the power play period, with just 33 on the board.
Watson and Raina were both caught square off the wicket by big West Indies star Pollard, the bowlers to benefit being Lasith Malinga and Jason Behrendorff.
The catch to dismiss Watson was made to look simple by Pollard even though the ball was travelling at pace and looked set to clear him at point. He timed his jump to perfection, parried the ball like a goalkeeper and then caught it on the rebound.
But what followed after was even more spectacular.
Raina was caught off a full-blooded slash by Pollard who took a spectacular one-handed leaping catch just inside the boundary line to send back the free-stroking left-hander for 16 in 15 balls.
The catch was applauded, as it should be, on Twitter:
Helps to be tall! Also helps if you can catch like that! #KieronPollard
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) April 3, 2019
Hardik’s batting and Pollard’s catching...paisa vasool! 👏👏👏🙏🙏🙏. Even if I didn’t pay to watch.😋
— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) April 3, 2019
"Holy moly! I'm not sure I've seen a better catch in VIVO IPL!"
— Watch the VIVO IPL on BT Sport (@btsportcricket) April 3, 2019
Insane catch 😱
Smooth tumble 👌
Celebrate with the fans 👊
Bravo, Kieron Pollard. Bravo! pic.twitter.com/07IQm4DNVn
Be my Pollard, I will be ur catch 💙😌😂#MIvCSK
— Nupur 🎭 (@awkward_humour) April 3, 2019
Pollard almost destroyed a Low Earth Orbit Satellite today.#MIvCSK
— Shridhar V (@iimcomic) April 3, 2019
Incredible effort by Pollard to dismiss Raina who was just beginning to look threatening. Best catch of the season surely. Perhaps the best ever in the history of the IPL! Mumbai Indians on top!
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) April 3, 2019
Pollard's catch - Felt like stopping a Chennai Metro Bus after 20 seconds of green signal. U need special powers to do that !! 👌👌👌 #CSKvsMI
— Prashanth Rangaswamy (@itisprashanth) April 3, 2019
That was something Impossible
— RaijinAntony #MI ❤ (@RaijinAntony10) April 3, 2019
Only this man can pull Something like this
The Name is Kieron Pollard 🔥#MIvCSK #CricketMeriJaan pic.twitter.com/RvwGXsxnHL
That catch from Pollard was on another level 😱😱😱 This guy is an elite level athlete and proves it time and time again #IPL pic.twitter.com/1yucKNjNPv
— Rav (@rav23ldn) April 3, 2019