LONDON: Former West Indies all-rounder Kieron Pollard became the first cricketer to play 600 T20 matches on Monday. The hard-hitting batter achieved this landmark during his side’s London Spirit’s match against Manchester Originals during ongoing The Hundred tournament at Lord’s.
Pollard made sure to make the occasion memorable. He smashed an unbeaten 34 runs off just 11 balls consisting of one four and four big sixes.
Pollard has some brilliant T20I stats. He has scored 11,723 runs across 600 games at an average of 31.34. He has the best individual performance of 104. Pollard has scored one century and 56 half-centuries in the format. He has also captured 309 wickets with best bowling figures of 4/15.
Over the years, Pollard has represented many T20 teams/franchises, most notably West Indies, domestic team Trinidad and Tobago, Mumbai Indians in Indian Premier League (IPL), Adelaide Strikers and Melbourne Renegades in Big Bash League, Dhaka Gladiators and Dhaka Dynamites in Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), Karachi Kings, Multan Sultans and Peshawar Zalmi in Pakistan Super League, Trinbago Knight Riders in Caribbean Premier League (CPL) etc.
Behind him are players Dwayne Bravo (543 matches), Shoaib Malik (472), Chris Gayle (463) and Ravi Bopara (426).
Coming to the match, Pollard’s assault powered his team 160/6 in 100 balls. Contributions also came from captain Eoin Morgan (37) and opener Zak Crawley (41). Manchester Originals could manage only 108 runs before they ran out of batters. Phil Salt was its top scorer with 36 runs while Jordan Thompson 4/21 was the leading bowler for the London Spirit team. London Spirit won the game by 52 runs. (ANI)