Not just Andre Russell, none of the KKR bowlers had an answer to Nicholas Pooran
There seems to be no stopping Nicholas Pooran in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. The West Indies lefthander has blazed his way to a ridiculous three fifties in just five matches and is already past 250 runs in the tournament.
He continued his incredible run in Tuesday’s clash against defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens with another stunning knock of 87 not out off just 36 balls that included seven boundaries and eight monstrous sixes.
As a result of Pooran’s knock, LSG posted a total of 238/3 in 20 overs.
In this process, Pooran laid waste to the talented bowling unit of KKR, specifically his former international teammate Andre Russell, who went for 24 runs in his 18th over of the innings.
Pooran almost got two more sixes in the over, but fortunately for KKR the ball bounced just before the ropes.
The lefthander began his rampage with two fours against Spencer Johnson in the 12th over and then ran away with the innings with a six against lead spinner Varun Chakravarthy followed by two against Sunil Narine.
He matched up to Harshit Rana’s strategy to try length balls by clobbering towering sixes over cow corner, one longer than the other to bring up his fifty in 21 balls.
The next 15 balls, Pooran sent five of them past the boundary with two of them bouncing just before the boundary ropes.
The Russell over was an absolute as he smacked three fours and two sixes which include a flat six over deep mid-wicket. Against Harshit Rana, who tried the tram lines and slow bouncers, Pooran rolled his wrists with such swiftness, the fielder at deep square leg barely moved before the ball hit the boundary.
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Besides Pooran’s sublime knock, the opening pair of Aiden Markram (47 off 28) and Mitchell Marsh (81 off 48 balls) made sure LSG were off to a rollicking start with a stand of 99 in just 62 balls.
Vaibhav Arora made the only notable contribution from the bowling side by conceding 35 from his four overs which included just three runs from his first over.
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