Nicholas Pooran is a six-hitting machine. While playing in two games of IPL 2025, he hit 13 sixes, 6 of those were in Lucknow Super Giant’s victory against Sunrisers Hyderabad, which was a five-wicket win. However he said that he does not “plan to hit sixes” but only tries to “time the ball”.
“I just try my best to get in good positions and if it’s there, just time the ball nicely,” Pooran said after his amazing total of 70 from 26 balls. “In the last nine years, I have been working on my craft. Obviously, I have been getting the opportunity to bat higher up in the powerplay as well. It is really important to cash in when the wicket is nice and obviously when the match-up is there you try your best to execute your skills.”
Lucknow Super Giants were given a target of 191 to win in Hyderabad. Pooran came to bat on the tenth ball. He easily made a four on his second ball and hitting two sixes off Simarjeet Singh in the third over. When powerplay ended, Pooran was on 44 from 16 with four fours and also 4 sixes. He made his half-century in just 18 balls, which is his third fastest in the IPL.
“I’ve never worked on my bat speed, I’m just blessed with incredible talent,” he said. “I am really happy that I have put in the work over the years, and I am getting the reward on the cricket field and winning games for my team as well.”
At LSG, Pooran and Rishabh Pant were playing as the game openers, but later it was decided by team management that Pooran should bat at No. 3 along with captain Pant to play at the middle order.
“Mostly the thought was to give freedom to him,” Pant said after winning first match as LSG captain. “We know what damage he can do down the order. I like that freedom too, but you have got to give someone that charge that you have to go and express yourself. The way he has been batting is phenomenal for us.”
Pooran and Mitchell Marsh collectively added 116 for their team. Also Marsh made two half-centuries in two games where he played.
“It’s a really long tournament and it’s nice to see Marsh at the top of the order,” Pooran said. “He’s shown his class especially against the seamers there. We are playing cricketing shots and not losing wickets. Our left-right combination is really important. In important parts of the game, we drop our intensity a bit, knock it around to ensure that we continue to build partnerships and also take our match-ups down.”
Marsh paid the compliment back at the press conference: “Fascinating, that’s probably the word I have for it. Obviously, I’ve played against Nicky (Pooran) for a long time and you’re often on the other end of that. So, to be on his team, I feel like I really connect with him as a bloke and someone who I’m going to hopefully bat with a lot. He’s a fantastic player. Pooran was unstoppable tonight.”
