Nicholas Pooran was in excellent form as he blasted his way to an imperious half-century to set Lucknow Super Giants up for an 18-run win over the Mumbai Indians in their Tata Indian Premier League match at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, on Friday.
LSG, who were asked to bat first, scored 214 for six, before restricting the hosts to 196 for six.
MI's loss consigned them to a last-place finish in the 2024 season of the IPL. LSG closed their campaign with a win that left them in sixth position.
Pooran launched eight sixes and five fours all over the Wankhede on his way to an imperious 75 off 29 deliveries.
Over the past four years, Pooran has been unbeaten on 64 nine times since 2022.
That has been his top score in that period. It took him 21 balls to break that ceiling and was unlucky to fall two runs short of his highest IPL score of 77, which he registered in 2020.
For his whirlwind knock, Nicholas Pooran bags the Player of the Match Award 🏆
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 17, 2024
Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/VuUaiv4G0l #TATAIPL | #MIvLSG pic.twitter.com/X3pd11zAzs
When he walked in to bat, LSG were in an uncomfortable position with 69 runs for three wickets on the board, after 9.3 overs.
They needed someone to play a special knock to give them a chance and the 28-year-old left-hander raised his hand.
The West Indian was the spearhead of his 109-run fourth-wicket partnership with KL Rahul.
KL Rahul was happy to play a supportive role to Pooran's hitting, as he compiled a 41-ball 55.
It was his fourth half-century of the season and his 46th IPL 50.
THREE WICKETS IN THREE BALLS
The LSG captain held up one end, anchoring the innings, while wickets tumbled at the other end.
Before Pooran and KL Rahul joined forces, LSG enjoyed a fruitful 48-run second-wicket partnership between KL Rahul and Marcus Stoinis (28).
The Australian came in and blasted five fours to put his team back on course after a tough first three overs.
Pooran was the first to be dismissed in his fourth-wicket partnership with KL Rahul.
His dismissal triggered a collapse that saw the visitors lose three wickets in three balls, two of them falling to Nuwan Thusara.
ICYMI‼️@mipaltan's 𝙏𝙚𝙖𝙢 𝙃𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙠👌👌
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 17, 2024
Watch the match LIVE on @JioCinema and @StarSportsIndia 💻📱#TATAIPL | #MIvLSG pic.twitter.com/JScRXL9XNO
However, Ayush Badoni and Krunal Pandya reset LSG's radar with a 36-run partnership that buoyed them over the 200-run mark.
Badoni was superb as he carved a single four and two sixes for his unbeaten 22 off 10, while Pandya scored 12 from seven deliveries.
Nuwan Thusara and Piyush Chawla were outstanding with the ball for MI.
They both bagged three wickets, however, Thusara was the better bowler of the day because of a superior economy rate.
The pacer had an economy of seven runs an over, compared to Chawla who conceded at 7.25.
KNOCK IN VAIN
Rohit Sharma and Naman Dhir were the two bright spots of MI's innings.
The duo scored half-centuries in an effort to salvage a positive result for their team.
Sharma creamed 10 fours and three sixes on his way to 68 off 38.
The former MI captain has had an indifferent season but looked classy as he raced to a 28-ball 50, his only half-century of the season.
Naman Dhir, on the other hand, registered his maiden IPL half-century by carving four fours and five sixes on his way to an unbeaten 62 off 28.
Not going down without a fight 💪
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 17, 2024
Naman Dhir gets to his maiden IPL FIFTY 👏
Watch the match LIVE on @StarSportsIndia and @JioCinema 💻📱#TATAIPL | #MIvLSG pic.twitter.com/m65qpL3M8f
His knock was in vain as there was too much to do with too few balls to do it all.
MI had a decent start in their chase, thanks to an inspired knock from Rohit Sharma.
Wankhede were enthralled 🙌
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 17, 2024
Rohit Sharma hit 68(38) 💪
Watch 🔽 #TATAIPL | #MIvLSG
The India international took the fight to LSG as he fought to wrestle control of the innings from the visitors who seemed to have pinned down his opening partner,Dewald Brevis. The young South African was struggling to get into rhythm in his first match in a long time this season.
However, just when it looked like he was opening his shoulders to go big, Brevis mistimed his shot and sent it to long on for an easy catch.
Brevis's dismissal was the beginning of a 33-ball period where they lost four wickets and scored a meagre 38 runs.
One of those wickets was that of Suryakumar Yadav, who was playing in his 150th IPL match.
But the middle-order batter did not celebrate his milestone in style as he was dismissed for a three-ball duck four deliveries after Brevis.
Hardik Pandya, who has also endured a season to forget, only managed a 13-ball 16.
Naman Dhir and Ishan Kishan attempted a rebuild, but MI had fallen so far behind the game the required run rate had reached unsustainable levels.
The pair shared a 68-run sixth-wicket stand that was undone when Kishan was dismissed for a 15-ball 14 runs.
Just before Kishan's dismissal, he had witnessed and celebrated Naman Dhir's 25-ball half-century.
Naveen-ul-Haq and Ravi Bishnoi bagged a brace of wickets each.
However, Bishnoi had the better economy rate, having conceded at 9.25 runs an over.
Naveen went at a higher economy of 12.50. Krunal Pandya and Mohsin Khan took a wicket each.
MUMBAI INDIANS: Hardik Pandya (c), Naman Dhir, Dewald Brevis, Suryakumar Yadav, Nehal Wadera, Ishan Kishan (wk), Romario Shepherd, Anshul Kamboj, Piyush Chawla, Arjun Tendulkar, Nuwan Thusara.
LUCKNOW SUPER GIANTS: KL Rahul (c)(wk), Devdutt Padikkal, Marcus Stoinis, Deepak Hooda, Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, Krunal Pandya, Arshad Khan, Matt Henry, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohsin Khan.