Why is Virat so animated? Please ask him, says Pollard
Visakhapatnam: India skipper Virat Kohli has been a bit more charged up than he usually is during the ongoing West Indies series and rival captain Kieron Pollard is "clueless" as to what's been the trigger.
During the T20 series, Kohli's imitation of Kesrick Williams' 'notebook tick' celebration was 'television gold', and then he seemed agitated when on-field umpire Shaun George referred Ravindra Jadeja's run-out in the first ODI in Chennai.
In fact, Kohli was very animated after Pollard's first-ball dismissal.
"You have to ask him why he is so animated. I can't answer that for you. It is what it is. You ask him that question and let him answer that. I don't know. I have no clue," Pollard replied with a wry smile.
In pursuit of 388, the West Indies were 192 for three in the 30th over, but lost five wickets for 18 runs to eventually lose the second ODI by 107 runs here on Wednesday.
But more than the middle order collapse, Pollard was concerned about the 120 plus runs conceded in the last 10 overs.
"We were in a good position and if you lose wickets frequently, you put yourself on the backfoot. That's where we faltered in the chase and we accept that," Pollard admitted.
"Chasing 388, guys had to go out and express themselves, rather than trying to get in. I thought, where the game changed was in last 10 overs (of Indian innings), we went for a 127 runs, that's where we lost the momentum in the entire game.
"Before that, it was neck and neck and we knew it was a good track. We haven't really executed in the back-end which has been really the storyline for us when there has been a flat track."
On the day, Rohit Sharma was dropped on 70 by Shimron Hetmyer but Pollard defended his team's catching, saying that the overall standard has been pretty good.
"For me, personally, fielding is an attitude. The intensity with which you go out on the field, your anticipation and awareness of what is taking place at that point in time. Both teams have been guilty of dropping catches and making some basic errors," observed one of the finest fielders in the game.
Pollard also wants the broadcasters to cut them some slack as showing their bloopers again and again doesn't really help.
"But overall throughout the ODIs and T20s, we have been pretty good. Standards have risen a bit, but we are human beings. We tend to make mistakes. I keep saying in conversations that our mistakes are broadcast so that people can have opinion on it."
Shai Hope, on Wednesday, pipped Virat Kohli and is only behind Rohit Sharma in the top ODI run-getters list for 2019, with a match left in the calendar year.
Pollard was not too worried about Hope's none-too-impressive strike rate of 75 as he knows what the keeper-opener brings to the table.
"Sometimes we get carried away by so many stats and so many datas that we don't give importance to how we build a team. You don't build a team with guys who only play shots. You got to have an anchor who would hold one end," Pollard defended his colleague.
"If you look at how we played cricket in past few years, we have been losing a lot of wickets early up and so you have to build a foundation. You can't build the top part of the house and then build the bottom. We have identified Shai as someone who opens the batting and has been phenomenal."
It's all about knowing the roles and responsibilities rather data crunching, which Pollard believes is the media's job.
"You go up and down and that's how you find a middle ground. It's work in progress for us and we don't want to get into details about that strike rate. We leave that to you guys to write about and we would enjoy reading the articles," he said.
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Nine Naxalites carrying cumulative bounty of Rs 43 lakh surrender in Chhattisgarh
Sukma, Jan 11: Nine hardcore Naxalites, allegedly involved in attacks on security forces and carrying a cumulative bounty of Rs 43 lakh, surrendered in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district on Saturday, police said.
The cadres, including two women, turned themselves in before senior officials from the police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) here, citing disappointment with "hollow" and "inhuman" Maoist ideology and infighting within the outlawed outfit, Sukma Superintendent of Police Kiran Chavan said.
He said the surrendered Naxalites were also impressed by the state government's 'Niyad Nellanar' (your good village) scheme, which aims at facilitating development works in remote villages and stated that senior cadres were on backfoot with the increasing pressure of security forces and setting up of police camps in interior areas.
The official said Ransai alias Oyam Buska (34), the commander of platoon no 24 of Maoists, and Pradip alias Ravva Rakesh (20), a member under a company wing of PLGA battalion no. 1, were carrying a reward of Rs 8 lakh each.
He said four other cadres carried a reward of Rs 5 lakh, a woman Naxalite carried a reward of Rs 3 lakh, and two others, including a woman, carried a bounty of Rs 2 lakh each.
Chavan said Ransai was allegedly involved in attacks, including the Jhara Ghati ambush in Narayanpur district in 2007, wherein seven policemen were killed; the 2007 Ranibodli (Bijapur district) attack, in which 55 security personnel died; the 2017 ambush in Burkapal (Sukma), where 25 CRPF personnel were killed and the 2020 Minpa ambush (Sukma) that killed 17 security personnel.
The other surrendered cadres were also involved in multiple attacks on security forces, he said.
Personnel from Konta police station, District Reserve Guard (DRG), Intelligence Branch Team and 2nd and 223rd battalions played a crucial role in their surrender, he said.
The official said the surrendered Naxalites were provided Rs 25,000 each and will be further rehabilitated as per the government's policy.
Last year, 792 Naxalites had surrendered in the Bastar region, comprising seven districts, including Sukma.
