Nicholas Pooran en route to his 75 © Sportzpics Nicholas Pooran was Lucknow’s most priced retention ahead of the 2025 mega auction at 21 crores – same as Virat Kohli and only behind Heinrich Klaasen (23 crores). He has been on a roll in T20 cricket in the last 15 months and scored more runs and cleared the ropes more than anyone else in a single calendar year in 2024. Pooran’s high price was justified by the fact he is amongst the elite hitters of spin in the world. There are certain kind of spin that you cannot bowl to him irrespective of the state of the game or at what stage of the innings he is in. In the most recent meeting between the same two sides in Delhi last year, Pooran came out to bat in the fourth over after Axar Patel dismissed Marcus Stoinis off the first ball of his spell and scored 20 runs off his first five balls. Axar did not bowl another over in the game. He did the same thing against Abhishek Sharma the season before, hitting three sixes off his first three balls coming out to bat in the middle of the 16th over. Since the start of IPL 2023, Pooran strikes at 169.23 against spin – a number bettered only by Klaasen and from the days of team breaking the banks for overseas finishers in the auction, the middle overs disruptors are the ones the highest in demand now and rightfully so on how the game is being played out. Pooran smashed three sixes off the four balls he faced from debutant Vipraj Nigam’s second over. It was the seventh time he smashed three or more sixes in the same over in IPL – only behind Andre Russell since his debut season in 2019. The ability of Pooran to maximise an over when he finds the right matchup is what makes him a cut above the rest. With two left handers in the middle, Axar chanced some part-time off spin from Tristan Stubbs in the 13th over only to be responded by a 28-run over by Pooran. It was the 13th time Pooran smashed 18+ runs in an over, eight of those in the middle phase of the innings (overs 7-15) which is the most by any player since his debut season. Pooran’s innings was not just about brute force but also about holding fort when odds were against him. Against Kuldeep Yadav, who dismissed him five times in 64 balls in previous meetings in T20s, he did not hit a single ball in the air. He swept him to find the gaps and was content to rotate the strike against his nemesis. Pooran ended the game scoring 75 off 30 balls off which just 15 came off the 12 balls he faced from seam but blasted 60 runs off 18 balls he faced from Capitals’ spinners. He struck at 333.33 against spin – the second highest in IPL among batters to have faced at least 15 balls of spin, behind Chris Gayle’s 473.33 on ‘that’ day. Pooran’s innings lacked the volume of Gayle’s but certainly not the impact.
