Nicholas Pooran’s sensational form continued unabated with 61 from just 34 balls to lead the Lucknow Super Giants to a comfortable six-wicket victory with three balls to spare in their IPL match against the Gujarat Titans at the Bharat Ratna Stadium in Lucknow on Saturday afternoon.
Requiring 181 for victory the Trinidadian left-hander came to crease at 65-1 in the seventh over and struck six sixes before using the outfield for a boundary for the first time and finished with seven sixes and just the one four before finally miscuing a drive against legspinner Rashid Khan to long on.
It was Pooran’s fourth half-century and extended his lead at the top of the run-scorers table with over 350 in just six matches.
The platform was laid by Aiden Markram who continued his own excellent recent form with a polished 58 from 31 balls with nine, crisply driven fours and a pull for six over midwicket before holing out to long off and, although David Miller (7) was bowled by Washington Sundar with victory in sight, only six runs were required from the final over.
Earlier Gujarat Titans openers Sai Sudharsan (56) and captain Shubman Gill (60) added 120 for the first wicket in exactly 12 overs to set up the likelihood of a total well in excess of 200, but the visitors were restricted to a modest 60 for the loss of six wickets to finish on 180-6.
Legspinner Digvesh Rathi (1-30) was especially parsimonious in his four overs while seamers Avesh Khan (1-32) and Shardul Thakur (2-34) bowled superbly in the ‘death overs’ to curtail the Titans’ attempts to accelerate.
The second legspinner, Ravi Bishnoi, was also at his canny best with 2-36 from his four overs.
Almost everything bowled at Pooran, however, seemed to be in his hitting arc and he made the most of his dazzling form to put the Super Giants on top of the table alongside the unbeaten Delhi Capitals and their vanquished opponents, all on eight points although the Capitals have played two games fewer than GT and LSG.
LUCKNOW SUPER GIANTS: Nicholas Pooran, Aiden Markram, Rishabh Pant (capt, wk), Himmat Singh, David Miller, Abdul Samad, Shardul Thakur, Digvesh Rathi, Akash Deep, Avesh Khan, Ravi Bishnoi
GUJARAT TITANS: Shubman Gill (capt), Sai Sudharsan, Jos Buttler (wk), Washington Sundar, Sherfane Rutherford, Shahrukh Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Arshad Khan, Rashid Khan, Sai Kishore, Mohammed Siraj