Kieron Pollard and the MI Family. If ever you’d need an example of a solid, long-standing relationship, it’s this. Having come into Mumbai Indians as a 22-year-old in 2010, to having retired in 2022 and become the batting coach for IPL 2023, to leading MI Emirates with good success in the inaugural season of the ILT20, to now doing the same at MI New York in the upcoming MLC, he’s been the one solid presence in the MI Universe. At the captains’ press conference before the tournament kicks off, he spoke about a bunch of stuff, from his MI bond, to the scouting, to cricket in the USA, to the local talent at MI NY. Excerpts ..

On the local American cricketers in the MI New York side

For us, from an MI perspective, we look at talent and their development. When you go around the world with cricket tournaments, the most important people are the domestic players. When you are able to identify the cream of the crop and give them the opportunity to now rub shoulders with guys who have played cricket around the world, it gives the knowledge to become better cricketers. Hopefully the guys at the end of this tournament become better cricket and the development of cricket in the USA starts here with us. 

On the KP-MI bond

Words cannot describe the connection with the MI franchise. The brand believes in the winning mentality and that is what I have put in myself. It was match made in heaven. It has reaped the awards of winning championships. Now this is a time of transition to help others achieve this level of greatness and I am happy that I am in a position now to influence that change. Hopefully they can take it forward. 

On MI NY’s scouting strategy 

Overall, Mumbai have a lot of scouts going around looking at talent. That’s why we were able to acquire most of the international players, some we have played with and some against. But we have a solid plan as a franchise on how we want to develop talent around the world. It is something that started a couple of years back. When we get into a franchise tournament, it becomes easy now when we know the local players. We have our plans in place and we continue to roll on. Hopefully by the end of this tournament, we will see other players, and hopefully by next year, we have some fresh faces in our camp as well. 

On why the MLC is likely to be more successful compared to other franchise tournaments tried in the USA in the past

I think the influence of the IPL franchises. The IPL has proven to be a successful tournament over the years. When you get these guys to sign in to a tournament like this, you know they will put in a hell of a lot into marketing the brand. It is a new venture in America as well, and they know how to get things on the ground. So I’m guessing, the backing of the bigwigs to market it properly and having some of the best players in the world participating in it, is going to help it big time. In the CPL, we have one or two games played here. Only when you play against India, because of the Indian community, you have crowds coming in at Florida. This is the start of something bigger, better and everyone is serious in growing the game in America. Hopefully, this will continue for the future generation. 

On what the youngsters in the team can look forward to 

For us, in our franchise, we look to develop them. We are all equal. We all get to share knowledge and get better as individuals. They can see what we have done to have been on this stage for so long because they want to be there. Just helping them with understanding cricket and different scenarios. We worry about this development. We want to make them as comfortable as possible. The franchise includes our families when we do things. They make it comfortable, and when you are comfortable, you open up as an individual and the learning takes place on both fronts.