Pooran’s clinical assault gives him the fastest fifty of the season The Lucknow Super Giants secured a remarkable victory over the Royal Challengers Bangalore in a T20 match in the Indian Premier League. The game was full of action and drama and had a thrilling finish. Harshal Patel missed an attempted run out of a non-striker backing up too far, which sparked pandemonium amongst the crowd. Ayush Badoni’s scoop was turned into an anti-climactic hit wicket, and the game became a testament to the idea that a match is never over until the last ball is bowled. Despite the tension, the Lucknow Super Giants never lost their cool, with Nicholas Pooran leading the team to a memorable victory. Pooran launched a clinical assault on the RCB bowlers, hitting the fastest fifty of the season off 15 balls, with nine of those being boundaries. His blitz came at a time when the Lucknow Super Giants were staring at a target of 114 in 56 balls with just three frontline batters left. However, Pooran remained unfazed, saying that tonight’s performance wasn’t a surprise for him. He believed that it was a good cricket pitch and small boundaries, and he was in the present moment, taking the chance to hit a couple of good shots out of the park, which got him going. Pooran explained that he just wanted to react to the situation, and he eventually reached a stage where he was just reacting to what was happening on the pitch. Pooran’s impressive form rubbed off on Ayush Badoni, who came out and played his innings well, helping the team score close to ten runs an over. Their partnership helped the team control the game for a couple of overs when the required run-rate was up to 15. Pooran explained that he learned from other instances where scores of 240 were being chased, and even the exploits of Rinku Singh from the previous night in IPL. When he’s off the pitch, Pooran tries to watch the game and break it down, staying in the moment. He said that partnerships are crucial, and when you get into the zone, it’s easier to break down the game. You know who your matchup is and who you’re looking to attack, who you can get 15-20 runs from and who the bowler is who can get you out, or who they’re going to bring back to get you out. The game was a learning experience for Pooran, who confessed that he’s struggled for the last 6-7 years in finishing games. He said that he’s made bad decisions at the wrong times and cost his team a lot of games. He’s grateful for this learning curve that was his journey and happy to have learned from it to come up with a match-winning performance. The game, the result, and the manner of it could potentially set out further learning curves that bring reality closer to theory. The strike rate question came under focus, with Virat Kohli, who got his highest powerplay score of 42 in this game, going at run-a-ball for his last 21 runs. Similarly, Faf du Plessis got only 33 off the first 31 balls he faced before shifting gears, while KL Rahul scored a 20-ball 18 in a run chase over 200. All three batters could have had different factors contributing to their approaches, with the additional factor that the pitch was slow. As fine as these margins are, they have the potential to make a significant difference in the eventual result. Parnell felt that they could have used a little more cushion, and added extra ten runs here and there, which could have been the difference. Nevertheless, the Lucknow Super Giants managed to cling on to their victory through Pooran’s excellent performance.
