Australian fast bowler Mitchell Starc and West Indian all-rounder Kieron Pollard were involved in an ugly spat in the Indian Premier League which hasn’t forgotten by the fans even today. What exactly happened between them and what was the trigger-point that led to issues between the two?
In the grand circus of cricketing entertainment that is the IPL, some moments transcend the boundary of sportsmanship to become epic showdowns.
The 2014 season gifted us one such gem – the explosive skirmish between Mumbai Indians’ Kieron Pollard and Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) Mitchell Starc.
When did the Pollard-Starc feud happen?
The ugly spat between Kieron Pollard and Mitchell Starc came in the 2014 edition of the Indian Premier League. It was in a match between the Rohit Sharma-led Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore, which was captained by Virat Kohli, which was being played on May 6 that year at the Wankhede Stadium.
What exactly happened in the clash between Starc and Pollard?
Mumbai Indians were hosting Royal Challengers Bangalore in the May 6 clash at Wankhede Stadium and batting first, had reached 129/4 in 16 overs. At the crease were captain Rohit Sharma, who used to bat in the middle-order those days and Pollard, who was on 26 off 20 balls.
The 17th over, which was bowled by Starc is when the trouble started.
Pollard got himself a single off the first ball of that over and then earned two more off the third ball as Ashok Dinda misfielded one. Off the fourth ball, Starc sent down a testing bouncer which Pollard tried to hook but missed.
The fast bowler that Starc is, he then attempted to have a few words with the batter for his choice of shot but Pollard shooed him off in a disdainful manner.
And as if that wasn’t enough, off the next ball, Pollard tried to continue with the mind games as he backed away from the delivery even as Starc was about to deliver it.
Unhappy at this late show of gamesmanship, an enraged Starc continued to run in and threw the ball close to Pollard. A shock Pollard reacted even more angrily at the possibility of being injured by that errant ball and in a fit on anger ended up attempting to throw his bat at Starc.
The bat slipped out of Pollard’s hand and landed close to him thereby avoiding any physical contact but a clearly miffed Starc had a word with the umpires about this. It took the RCB captain Kohli to try and diffuse the situation.
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What happened next?
Pollard would go on to take six more runs off the final two balls of that over but the fun continued in the final over of the innings.
It was Starc who was bowling again and this time around, Pollard missed a delivery. Rohit, from the other end, dashed down for a bye and Pollard was left with no option but to respond, albeit late, to his captain’s call.
Wicket-keeper Parthiv Patel lobbed the ball back to the bowler, Starc, who had ample opportunity to whip the bails off and run Pollard out. He eventually did that but not before mock-inviting Pollard back to the crease!
Were Pollard & Starc punished for their IPL 2014 altercation?
Yes, Pollard and Starc were both charged under level 2 offences and penalised a part of their match fee. While Pollard lost 75% of his match fee, Starc was forced to forego 50% of it as penalty.
The article 2.2.7 of the code was used to charge Pollard and it includes the following:
“throwing a ball (or any other item of cricket equipment such as a water bottle) at or near a player, team official, umpire, match referee or any other third person in an inappropriate and/or dangerous manner during a match.”
The article 2.2.11 was used for Starc which talks about the following:
“where the facts of the alleged incident are not adequately or clearly covered by any of the above offences, conduct that either: (a) is contrary to the spirit of the game; or (b) brings the game into disrepute.”
However, there were quite a few who thought it was a kind of an altercation in which they should have been penalised a lot more. Some fans reckoned it should have led to a ban of few matches for both the players for getting dangerously close to physically harming each other.
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How did the tournament end for these two players?
Starc’s Bangalore finished seventh out of the eight teams with only five wins in the competition. On the other hand, Mumbai Indians qualified for the playoffs but were beaten by Chennai Super Kings in the Eliminator.
Pollard scored 273 runs in the 2014 IPL at an average of 34.12 while striking at 134.48. He also grabbed a couple of wickets. Starc scalped 14 wickets from 14 games, conceding 7.49 an over.
What to make of the Pollard-Starc skirmish?
The clash between Pollard and Starc was more than just a cricketing skirmish; it was a theatrical spectacle, a soap opera within the sport.
As we will see in the section below it was also a part of the growing sense of problems between Australian and West Indian cricketers which had earlier also seen Pollard get involved in a bit of a verbal duel with David Warner.
As we look back, we can’t help but marvel at the entertainment value that these moments bring to the IPL – after all, who needs a scripted drama when you have cricket, complete with its own plot twists and unexpected turns?
That being said, there is also a view that the gentleman’s game should never get physical and this was perilously close to that happening. The best thing to have happened would have been to nip such instances in the bud.
Other issues between Australian & West Indian cricketers
This wasn’t the first time that Aussie and Windies cricketers had clashed on the field of play. In fact it was just another ugly chapter in the list of problems that the two sides have had with each other.
Late Australian batter Dean Jones was involved in two of these – one when he was unfairly and probably illegally run-out by West Indies as he trudged off following his dismissal off a no-ball and second when he asked Curtly Ambrose to remove his white wrist-band.
Ambrose, who was usually a menacing but a quiet seam bowler, had to be pulled away by his captain Richie Richardson when he charged aggressively at Australia’s batsman Steve Waugh. Waugh had mouthed off an obscenity in the direction of Ambrose that looked to have incensed the bowler.
Brendon Julian then ran West Indian batter Sherwin Campbell out in an ODI in 1999 after having collided with him at the non-striker’s end. This had led to a crowd trouble forcing Australia to recall the batsman back.
Glenn McGrath’s verbal aggressions at Ramnaresh Sarwan were met with a disgusting comment from the West Indian batter regarding the Aussie’s ill wife. It led to McGrath going after Sarwan in another menacing, finger-wagging tale.
And we have already covered on our site what happened when Shane Warne and Marlon Samuels came head to head in a T20 game of the Big Bash League in 2013.
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