Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], April 11 (ANI): Nicholas Pooran struck a blistering 62 off only 19 balls (4x4, 7x6) while Marcus Stoinis hammered 65 off 30 balls (6x4, 5x6) as Lucknow Super Giants pulled off a nail-biting one-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bangalore at a capacity M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, in a league match of the 2023 IPL.
In the process, the West Indies' Pooran also hit the fastest half-century this season off only 15 balls. The game, however, went down to the wire before LSG managed the all-important single off the last ball of their 20th over with Ravi Bishnoi and Avesh Khan making the most of wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik's fumble.
Pooran and Stoinis' brilliant display completely overshadowed some terrific batting performances from the hosts, who had finished proceedings on a challenging 212/2 with the top three in their batting order -- Virat Kohli, skipper Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell --hitting half-centuries.
While Kohli was out for 61 (44b, 4x4, 4x6), du Plessis (79 runs; 46b, 5x4, 5x6) and Maxwell (59 runs; 29b, 3x4, 6x6) put on 115 for the second wicket.
Speaking on JioCinema England's World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan was impressed by Pooran's performance, saying: "He has such fast hands. To watch him in full flow is an absolute pleasure. Tonight, he got huge rewards at this ground."
Meanwhile, former India cricketer Suresh Raina needed some time to process the events panning out on the ground.
"I need my heart to rest first. Almost 450 runs were scored in 40 overs, so we've received full entertainment tonight in the IPL. The way the match went down to the last ball and how Dinesh (Karthik) missed the wicket, RCB had almost won the match. They also tried the Mankad rule and it wasn't successful, so it was full of entertainment. Full credit goes to Pooran and Stoinis for the way they built their partnership, " said Suresh Raina on JioCinema.
Raina was also full of praise for Pooran. "He is a dangerous batter. We've seen this finishing from MS Dhoni, Stoinis, Mitchell Marsh, Kieron Pollard, and Hardik Pandya, but he's very different. To score a 50 off 15 balls for the fastest 50 of the season, especially at the time he did it. Even bigger than the 50 off 15 balls, Pooran got the win for his team. To win a match from that position, there must be a lot of positivity and belief that he can win matches at any time. The way he hit the ball around the ground, it was a spectacular innings."
Former India pacer RP Singh spoke of Karthik's error on the last ball on JioCinema. "Mistakes like this happen from anyone but mistakes like this shouldn't happen, especially when you're an experienced player with the tag of a finisher. This was something the finisher had to do. Once Parthiv Patel had run out MS Dhoni in the same situation, but he didn't miss and won the match for his team. These things count a lot and maybe Dinesh couldn't understand it or couldn't control his pulse in that situation." (ANI)