Kieron Pollard: 'A lot of people are sprinting through those franchise doors'

It's been more than a decade since Kieron Pollard was branded a "mercenary" for choosing to chance his arm in the emerging T20 franchise market, rather than knuckle down in the West Indies national set-up and allow his future to be determined by the vagaries of form and selectorial whim.

But now, at the age of 35, as he sits in his hotel-room in Grand Prairie, Texas, awaiting his latest venture in USA's Major League Cricket (MLC), it's safe to say he feels vindicated - by the career he's made for himself on the one hand, but also by the path he's set for others to follow.

"I just sit back with a smile on my face, knowing that we were 10-15 years ahead of everybody," Pollard tells ESPNcricinfo, as he contemplates cricket's shifting sands, and the growing recognition that this generation of franchise-first cricketers are no longer simply seen as renegades by the wider game, but as pioneers in an ever-evolving sport.

"I got a lot of stick for it for various reasons, because certain persons couldn't see past their noses," he adds, recalling his run-ins with West Indies board members back in the day, not least in 2010, when he turned down a central contract that would have required him to renege on his T20 Blast deal with Somerset.

"But it is what it is. Hopefully, those persons now, who are speaking about all this as a 'big delight' and 'so amazing', hopefully they remember the words they were using not too long in the past, to describe myself and others who had a choice to make at that particular time."

The rest, you could say, is a history that Pollard is still in the process of writing. And his next chapter will unfold at the as-yet unassuming Grand Prairie Stadium in Texas, when he leads out MI New York against San Francisco Unicorns on Friday night.

"In this day and age, we're still unearthing new T20 tournaments," he adds, and even the man himself might be hard-pressed to recall every team that he's turned out for in the course of his globe-trotting career - one that's taken him from Trinidad to India, to England, Australia, Bangladesh, Pakistan and most places in between … even to Canada for two seasons of the Global T20 League in 2018 and 2019.

More recently, however, one common theme has tended to underpin Pollard's global exploits. After 13 richly decorated seasons with Mumbai Indians in the IPL, he was in action earlier this year for MI Emirates in the inaugural ILT20 in the UAE. And now here he is, captaining Mumbai's fledgling USA franchise, and providing vital continuity between these as-yet loosely affiliated teams, as the Ambani family continues to push that brand recognition around the globe.

"That's a relationship and a connection that has been created over more than a decade," Pollard says, having played more than 200 matches for Mumbai, and been involved in five IPL and two Champions League T20 titles. "If you understand the fact that Indian players can't play around the world, I'm the closest thing in terms of connection to build a franchise and to build a brand. So yes, you can say I'm a pioneer in that aspect of it as well.

"Obviously I've played cricket in America before, but only in Florida. Coming here to the Texan heat is going to be different," he adds. "But I'm pretty excited to see what's there to offer.

"At some point in time, we're going to have our stadium in New York, and the people of New York will come out to support us. I think it's a great concept. There's plenty room for cricket in America. Obviously we know what American sports dominate the TV headlines, but hopefully, this is the start of something for a long period of time."

Other familiar names fill out MI New York's overseas slots. Trent Boult now plays for Rajasthan Royals in the IPL, but as Player of the Match in Mumbai's most recent title success in 2020, he still holds a large measure of affection from the aficionados. And then there's Australia's Tim David, "one of the new entertainers of T20 cricket," as Pollard himself describes his heir apparent in Mumbai's middle-order, and the man upon whom much of MI New York's publicity in the Big Apple itself was focussed prior to the tournament.

Month by month, tournament by tournament, therefore, the inevitability grows that 12-month franchise contracts are the next big disruption to the sport as it is currently known. A lot of the speculation in that regard has centred around another of Mumbai's prize assets, Jofra Archer, whose recovery from an ongoing elbow problem has been a co-operative arrangement between the franchise's medical team, and the ECB.

"I've seen the speculation about 12-month contracts for Jofra; I don't know anything about that," Pollard says. "I don't know if anyone, at this point in time, is actually on [one of those]. But at some point in time, it's being touted that this is going to happen. And I can't see it not happening.

"It's an ever-changing scenario, but that's what life is about," he adds. "Life is about change, and it's about adapting to change. Long ago, we might not have been able to have this interview, face-to-face on different continents, because of technology. So we need to adapt to change in all facets of life.

"Hopefully, we can see the benefits of it, and hopefully, the 'board games' - the franchise game and the international game - can mesh together and find that right balance to characterise the importance of certain tournaments and understand that international cricket has its place as well in the calendar with the franchises."

There's little doubt, however, that Pollard is revelling in a satisfying degree of schadenfreude as he watches the same issues that, back in the day, tore the fabric of West Indies cricket now affect even the more powerful boards in the international game.

Back in February, for instance, when several England players - including Alex Hales, Sam Billings and Liam Dawson - opted out of a white-ball tour of Bangladesh to honour their contracts in the Pakistan Super League (PSL), England's managing director, Rob Key, acknowledged that the "life-changing sums of money" on offer for "a few weeks' work" meant it was increasingly hard to criticise those who were putting club over country. And now, we can add to that number Jason Roy, the only active England player involved in this year's MLC, whose deal with LA Knight Riders required the early termination of his ECB contract.

Responding to Key's quotes back in February, Pollard wrote on Instagram: "Live to see this day. Eight years ago, different names we called it."

"Some of us were forced in a corner, and we were vilified for it," Pollard says. "But now the pathway is clear. Everyone is seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, and I've just seen a lot of people sprint through those doors. I just sit back with a smile on my face, with typical Caribbean flair, maybe watching the blue seas and the sand, and just taking in the movie."

On the face of it, West Indies' standards have continued to plummet in recent years, with their recent failure to qualify for the ODI World Cup marking a new nadir in their fortunes. And yet, as one of the players whose IPL experience was a vital component of their two T20 World Cup titles in three attempts between 2012 and 2016, Pollard remains adamant that he and his team-mates have more than done their bit for the region.

"We won two World Cups with the West Indies team, and there have been different talents coming out. But we weren't able to capitalise," he said.

"For us in the Caribbean, when we had the opportunity to understand where the game was going, we were stubborn. We had guys saying 'you can't do this' or 'you can't do that'. And then all the legal ramifications came into play, rather than saying, 'this is the future, let's find a way'. If we had done that, things would have been different.

"What T20 Cricket gives you is an opportunity for longevity in your career," he adds. "What is too much? You don't know. But it's just a matter of balancing it out and understanding that every tournament and every version of cricket has a place on the international calendar."

MLC's place in the calendar is yet to be fully determined. This year's taster season is a mere two weeks long, but Pollard is optimistic about the extent to which the tournament can capture local imagination - especially if the USA's hitherto lesser-known players can seize on their moments in the limelight, and help to show the American grassroots game that there's a genuine living to be made from the sport.

MI New York squad includes the current USA captain and wicketkeeper, Monank Patel, who was in recent action at the World Cup qualifier in Zimbabwe, and Steven Taylor, whom Pollard describes as "as one of the best cricketers going around in America".

"This tournament gives them an opportunity to rub shoulders with the quality of players in our squad," Pollard adds. "It will help them grow their game, so that they can become stalwarts of the American game in their own right.

"They've always had different persons trying to start up [cricket in the USA], but this is an opportunity to set the benchmark, and hopefully the backing of the Indian franchises will give MLC a chance to be futuristic, rather than just a pop-up tournament.

"Every tournament has its own cultural differences, and the quality can be different too. But what I can safely say, no doubt, the IPL has the right template as the best T20 league in the world. All the others, they won't be able to compete but, with the right persons behind it and the right structures, in whatever country you are, you can have a decent league. Obviously, the IPL is No.1 and everybody else will be second."