Watch: Kieron Pollard pulled off a sharp, reflex caught-and-bowled from in front of his face, following it with an aggressive send-off of Abdullah Shafique during a PSL 2023 game.
The 35-year-old Pollard, who retired from international cricket last year, continues to feature sporadically in T20 leagues around the world. Playing for Multan Sultans under Mohammad Rizwan, Pollard hadn’t taken a wicket in five matches this edition, before his team met Lahore Qalandars.
Bowling fifth-change, Pollard used his cutters to good effect, finishing with tidy figures of 2-0-16-2 in Qalandars’ total of 180-9. He removed both Sam Billings (54) and Shafique (48), the two top scorers for Qalandars, the only two in the side to cross 20.
His first breakthrough came in the 13th over – with Qalandars on 119-2 and looking set for a big score, Shafique tried to hammer a full, slow delivery from Pollard over the bowler’s head. The slowness of the ball probably deceived him, he smashed the wide delivery right towards Pollard, who did well to get into position, snaffle a return catch, and more importantly, save his face.
Cool as he is, Pollard gave Shafique a send-off, pointing at the pavilion with his thumb, and signalling Shafique to return to his dugout. There was barely any emotion or expression from Pollard, just a death stare.
Watch the catch here:
As cool as you like 😎@KieronPollard55 sends Abdullah Shafique on his way ☝️#HBLPSL8 | #SabSitarayHumaray | #LQvMS pic.twitter.com/nf70oabFBX
— PakistanSuperLeague (@thePSLt20) March 4, 2023