Nicholas Pooran scored the fastest fifty of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 on Tuesday night. The stylish Caribbean batter reached the milestone off just 15 balls, surpassing Ajinkya Rahane, who reached the feat in 19 deliveries. But what mattered the most was Pooran’s timing of notching up the half-a-ton. His rollicking knock brought Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) back into the hunt, ultimately leading his team to a terrific 1-run win against the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).
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Chasing 2013, the Super Giants were reduced to 23 for 3 within the powerplay. When it seemed all hazy, Marcus Stoinis and Pooran came up with blazing knocks, and the run chase was lit up. Both of them collectively hammered 12 sixes and 10 boundaries, giving RCB a massive shock. While Stoinis ended up scoring 65 off 30 deliveries, Pooran got 62 off just 19 balls.
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Not only the LSG camp but the experts off the field took some to get over his innings. Had Pooran stayed till the end, he would’ve ended the game much before. But his contribution sparked the zeal within the tea to win the game.
Heaping praise on the West Indies batter, former CSK all-rounder Suresh Raina, who is currently a JioCinema IPL expert, said there must have been a lot of positivity in Pooran which backed during his innings.
“He is a dangerous batter. We’ve seen this finishing from MS Dhoni, Stoinis, Mitchell Marsh, Kieron Pollard, and Hardik Pandya, but he’s very different. To score a 50 off 15 balls for the fastest 50 of the season, especially at the time he did it," Raina told JioCinema.
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“Even bigger than the 50 off 15 balls, Pooran got the win for his team. To win a match from that position, there must be a lot of positivity and belief that he can win matches at any time. The way he hit the ball around the ground, it was a spectacular innings," he added.
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.
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