The Lucknow Super Giants are currently sitting at the top of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 table with six points in four games. Naturally, the mood in the camp is upbeat. They next face Punjab Kings on Saturday. As the players are enjoying this mini-break, Krunal Pandya and Nicholas Pooran could be seen indulging in banter at poolside at their team hotel. In a video that was posted on social media by LSG, Pooran takes his revenge in style.
Hitting it out of the pool!
: @krunalpandya24#LucknowSuperGiants | #LSG | #GazabAndaz pic.twitter.com/bEvZHAiuHX
— Lucknow Super Giants (@LucknowIPL) April 11, 2023
Nicholas Pooran was on fire on Monday. With his team Lucknow Super Giants chasing a huge 213-run target against the Royal Challengers Bangalore, Pooran took it upon himself to boost his team. He came to bat in the 11th over, with LSG at 99/4. Off just the second ball he faced, Pooran hit a huge six off RCB spinner Karn Sharma. That was just the start. He hit five more sixes to reach the 50-run mark in just 15 balls – the joint second-fastest fifty in IPL ever. He reached 50 in the 15th over and ultimately departed in the 17th over. He ended on 62 off just 19 balls [4s-4 6s-7] and his strike-rate was an astounding 326.32. It’s the fourth-highest SR in an IPL innings (50+ runs).
Nicholas Pooran struck a blistering 62 off only 19 balls (4×4, 7×6) while Marcus Stoinis hammered 65 off 30 balls (6×4, 5×6) as Lucknow Super Giants pulled off a nail-biting one-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bangalore at a capacity M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, in a league match of the 2023 IPL. In the process, the West Indies’ Pooran also hit the fastest half-century this season off only 15 balls. The game, however, went down to the wire before LSG managed the all-important single off the last ball of their 20th over with Ravi Bishnoi and Avesh Khan making the most of wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik’s fumble.
Pooran and Stoinis’ brilliant display completely overshadowed some terrific batting performances from the hosts, who had finished proceedings on a challenging 212/2 with the top three in their batting order — Virat Kohli, skipper Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell –hitting half-centuries.
While Kohli was out for 61 (44b, 4×4, 4×6), du Plessis (79 runs; 46b, 5×4, 5×6) and Maxwell (59 runs; 29b, 3×4, 6×6) put on 115 for the second wicket.
Speaking on JioCinema England’s World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan was impressed by Pooran’s performance, saying: “He has such fast hands. To watch him in full flow is an absolute pleasure. Tonight, he got huge rewards at this ground.”
With ANI inputs
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