Pollard: 'We always had that belief that Rohit is going to come good'

Mumbai Indians (MI) batting coach Kieron Pollard is ecstatic that his prediction about Rohit Sharma has come true.

Rohit has turned his season around with back-to-back 70s in his last two innings, both coming in comfortable wins for MI. But it was hardly this rosy at the start of IPL 2025 for the former MI captain.

He had scored just 82 runs in his first six innings and was also struggling with an injury, which forced him to miss a game. It was around this time that Pollard was grilled about the form of MI's most experienced batter. He had at the time said that Rohit should not be judged after a few low scores and that he would bounce back. As he has.

"If my memory serves me right, at the start of this competition, that question was different," Pollard said when asked about Rohit's surge in form. "I said sitting right here, we are also going to be singing his praises as an individual. For us, we always had that belief that he is going to come good.

"There are dips. There is low confidence. But for someone who has played this sport for a long time, you have these moments. Sometimes you just need that extra support from people. Now we are singing his praises. We are all very happy in the Mumbai dressing room. We were happy at the start as well, knowing that it is going to happen, and long may it continue.

"The headlines are going to be about that. But for us, in our entire batting unit, we look for guys to perform at different junctures in a tournament. We are not going to individualise it."

MI had a torrid run at the start of the season, losing four of their first five games. Since then, though, they have won four in a row. It is not the first time that MI's season has started slowly before they have picked up pace. Pollard said it was down to some teams gelling faster, while some teams take time. He also said MI have now "found a sort of a method", which was working for them.

"There is no 'more important' part in IPL," Pollard said when asked if the second half of the season carried more significance than the first half. "It all depends on form and confidence of the team. In the second half, you build a bit of momentum. You will tend to say now is more important. But you have 14 games in a tournament. Each and every game is important. Some teams gel faster than some or they start off pretty quickly. Some teams build the momentum and come into the back end.

"The most important thing is trying to qualify for the playoffs and get into the final and see if you can win. That is important."

Pollard also heaped praise on MI captain Hardik Pandya, particularly the way he's handled himself after last season. Hardik had an acrimonious start to his MI captaincy stint where he was welcomed with loud boos wherever he went. However, things have been much smoother this year.

With the bat, Hardik is striking at 170.49 so far in IPL 2025, while with the ball, he has 12 wickets in nine innings at an economy of 9.08.

"It is 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," Pollard said. "I know he is enjoying cricket as we have all seen from international cricket, winning World Cups, to Champions Trophy. It is an individual that has gone through a lot.

"For me, I am happy to see where he is at right now. And as I said previously, we are all human beings in this world. So sometimes we need to give a bit of leeway to some individuals at certain times.

"Who says he won't have another down? And who says he is not going to have another up as well? So that is what life is about and that is what the journey is about. So I am happy for Hardik."