Nicholas Pooran dedicated his match-winning fifty to his wife and newborn child after Lucknow Super Giants secured a thrilling one-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL 2023 on Monday. Pooran scored 62 off 19 balls as LSG successfully chased down the 213-run target. The West Indian got to his fifty in just 15 balls, the fastest for the ongoing season and the joint second-fastest in IPL history.
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Sunil Narine and Yusuf Pathan also have 15-ball fifties to their names. KL Rahul and Pat Cummins have the record for the fastest IPL fifty (in 14 balls).
“I want to dedicate this performance to my wife and new born,” player of the match Pooran said. “We knew that the game was on, Stoinis and KL had a wonderful partnership. Stoinis kept us in the game and I knew this was a nice wicket. We could chase even over 50 in the last four, it was about cashing in.”
Pooran also elaborated on his role at LSG which includes going big from the very start.
“The second ball I came in and smashed a six. It isn’t about getting a look in, if it is in my slot then I will smash it for six. Over the past couple of years, I’ve put a lot of pressure on myself to finish games. Today also I wanted to finish the game, but got out in the end. I hope this is the season for me, in a good space and state of mind. Just want to enjoy my cricket, play with a smile and entertain, and win games for my team,” he added.
Watch: Harshal misses run out at non-striker’s end — the thrilling last over
Apart from Pooran, Marcus Stoinis (65 off 30) and Ayush Badoni (30 off 24) also played a big role in LSG’s victory.
LSG captain KL Rahul was ecstatic after the incredible win and also defended his innings of 18 from 20 balls during a 200+ chase.
“Unbelievable. This is the Chinnaswamy, only venue where so many last-ball finishes are possible. From the position we were in, to end up winning it, is superb. We had to go hard and the ball swung early, and they got 2-3 wickets to put the pressure on us. The only reason we got two points today is for the way the lower order batted,” Rahul said.
“Not ideal for me, I want to score more runs and get the strike rate up as well. We’ve played on two tough Lucknow wickets, and today we lost 3 wickets so I went slower. I wanted to stay till the end and play with Nicky.”
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RCB captain Faf du Plessis expressed disappointment after his team suffered a defeat despite scoring over 200 runs batting first.
“Disappointed. They played well through the middle. One ball one run. We backed ourselves to get a run-out,” he said. “Stoinis and Pooran played everything off the middle. They took on one of our main bowlers (Harshal) in his first couple of overs. It is a difficult place to bowl at death. You have to be on top of your game.”
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