Nicholas Pooran smashed the fastest fifty of the Indian Premier League season in 15 balls as Lucknow Super Giants pulled off a stunning chase of 213 to edge out Royal Challengers Bangalore in a last-ball thriller on Monday.
West Indies’ Pooran smashed 62 off 19 balls before he departed but Lucknow crept over the line to win by one wicket in a dramatic final over in Bengaluru.
Lucknow needed five off the last six balls after Ayush Badoni was out hit-wicket for 30 in the penultimate over, hitting his stumps while hammering what would have been a six.
Nicholas Pooran plays a stunner as LSG defeat RCB in a high-scoring thriller
Mark Wood and Jaydev Unadkat were dismissed in the final over and Ravi Bishnoi was nearly ‘mankaded’ from the last ball.
With the scores level and a super over beckoning, number 11 Avesh Khan scampered a bye and threw his helmet in celebration.
Australia’s Marcus Stoinis had earlier clobbered a 30-ball 65, but it was Pooran’s blitz including seven sixes that blew away RCB.
Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell notched up 15 sixes between them in Bangalore’s 212-2, with 27 hit in the match in total.
Bangalore struck with three early wickets before Stoinis dominated a fourth-wicket stand of 76 with skipper KL Rahul.
Impact player Karn Sharma broke the partnership as he sent back Stoinis but Bangalore had a new nemesis in Pooran.
The efforts of Pooran and Stoinis eclipsed the power-hitting from Kohli (61), Du Plessis (79 not out) and Maxwell (59) after Bangalore were put in to bat first.
Kohli set the tone for Bangalore’s big total with his second fifty of the season in a 96-run opening stand with Du Plessis.
Maxwell kept up the charge after Kohli’s departure and Du Plessis delivered a flurry of sixes, including a hit of 115 metres, as he also registered his second half-century of the campaign.
Text by AFP
Here are some of the reactions to Pooran’s stunning innings from Twitter:
𝐀 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐜𝐤 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬!@nicholas_47 smacked the fastest fifty of the season and inspired @LucknowIPL to victory against all odds 🙌
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 10, 2023
Revisit his knock here 🎥🔽 #TATAIPL | #RCBvLSG https://t.co/JE6uoSKwqJ
Nicholas Pooran WOW. 51 from 15 balls🤭🤭🤭🤭.
— Ian Raphael Bishop (@irbishi) April 10, 2023
Another incredible game in the IPL. Nicholas Pooran comes of age in the IPL. The best 60 you would ever see. Strike rate, a small matter of 326! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 #LSGvRCB #IPLonStar
— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) April 10, 2023
Last night was just unreal.
— NickyP (@nicholas_47) April 11, 2023
Thank you Bangalore ♥️ pic.twitter.com/wvKvpxQYrc
Ufff…crazy game. Harshal Patel and Dinesh Karthik missing out on run-outs of the last ball but a game of thin margins. Pooran was special. Two great games in 2 nights at the IPL. #RCBvsLSG
— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) April 10, 2023
Well Well Well! Looks like Nicholas Pooran has watched Rinku Singh's innings on the loop since last night. Crazy hitting. #RCBvsLSG #IPL2023 pic.twitter.com/lbu0PBJazq
— Ridhima Pathak (@PathakRidhima) April 10, 2023
Nicholas Pooran tonight:
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) April 10, 2023
0,6,0,0,4,6,6,1,6,1,4,6,4,1,6,4,1,6,W.
- 62 (19) - One of the craziest knocks in IPL history. Pooran unlocked his true potentials tonight and set the Chinnaswamy Stadium on fire! pic.twitter.com/JDz9mqENnU
NICHOLAS POORAN, THE HERO OF LSG. pic.twitter.com/GrcOymxdEZ
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) April 10, 2023
Shardul Thakur, Ajinkya Rahane, Vijay Shankar, Venky Iyer, Rinku Singh, Nicholas Pooran...
— Vinayakk (@vinayakkm) April 10, 2023
...some special IPL knocks over the last few days.
💫 THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM! @nicholas_47 snatched a victory for LSG from the jaws of defeat with his masterclass.
— The Bharat Army (@thebharatarmy) April 10, 2023
👏 He came, he saw, he conquered!
📷 BCCI • #NicholasPooran #RCBvLSG #IPL #IPL2023 #TATAIPL #BharatArmy pic.twitter.com/D8IFqcwEoT
Smile if your team pulled off a final-over victory to move to the 🔝 of the table 😁#TATAIPL | #RCBvLSG | @LucknowIPL pic.twitter.com/xCsPhTYRNN
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 10, 2023