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IPL 2023: Experts In Awe Of 'Dangerous Finisher' Nicholas Pooran

Bengaluru, April 11: JioCinema experts were astonished with "dangerous finisher" Nicholas Pooran following his match-winning heroics in match 15 of IPL 2023 between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Lucknow Super Giants.

Pooran struck a blistering 62 off only 19 balls (4x4, 7x6) while Marcus Stoinis hammered 65 off 30 balls (6x4, 5x6) as LSG pulled off a nail-biting one-wicket win over RCB at a capacity M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Monday (April 10) night.

Nicholas Pooran

In the process, the West Indies' Pooran also hit the fastest half-century this season off only 15 balls as he laid the foundation for the team's near-impossible win.

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, Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell - scoring fifties.

While Kohli was dismissed for 61 off 44 balls, Du Plessis (79 not out off 46 balls) and Maxwell (59 off 29 balls) put on 115 for the second wicket to take RCB to a challenging total.

JioCinema IPL expert 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."

Another JioCinema IPL expert 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 TATA 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."

Like Morgan, Raina was also full of praise for Pooran, who was awarded the player of the match for his contribution in the run chase, as the former Chennai Super Kings star compared the West Indian to other great finishers.

"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," Raina added.

"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."

Meanwhile, another JioCinema IPL expert RP Singh spoke about Karthik's error on the last ball that allowed LSG to complete the run chasing, running for a bye.

"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," RP Singh said.

"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."

Story first published: Tuesday, April 11, 2023, 12:21 [IST]
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