Mentor Pollock wary of Gayle, de Villiers

Mumbai Indians’ mentor Shaun Pollock acknowledged the importance of taking out Chris Gayle early when they take on the Royal Challengers Bangalore here on Monday, and also stressed on the quality of AB de Villiers.

Gayle and de Villiers have been two of the most consistent performers for the Bangalore-based side, and they have carried the team’s hopes all along this season.

“He has been so consistent,” said the 38-year-old during a press conference on Sunday. “There are a lot of guys who can hit the ball out of the ground but he does that very consistently. We realise that he is an important player for them and so we will come up with our plans to combat that. We know that if we get him early, it will be a big blow to RCB.

“AB is a quality player in all formats of the game. Him and Gayle have been the hits for RCB. Hopefully, against us he doesn’t play well, and when he plays for South Africa in the T20 World Cup, I hope he is brilliant,” said the South African.

Talking about the extensive use of slower deliveries to deceive batsmen, rather than throwing down yorkers, Pollock said: “In my era, batsmen were not playing the paddles, reverse paddles and all those different strokes. If the batsman just stands up and goes straight down the ground, then the yorker is the No 1 option. But today, they get down on one knee to paddle it over the ’keeper and if you put the fine leg back and bring up the third man, they will paddle it over there. It is difficult to know where to bowl a delivery. The guys still practice yorkers but you need to know when to bowl it.”