In the Indian Premier League match between Lucknow Super Giants and Kolkata Knight Riders on Saturday in Kolkata, Nicholas Pooran kept the innings together with a counter-attacking fifty to lead his team to a valiant 176 for eight.
After LSG was in a critical position at 73/5 with all of their top hitters, including the hot combo of Marcus Stoinis (0) and Krunal Pandya (9), falling out cheaply, Pooran (58 off 30 balls) rebuilt the innings.
When LSG was sent in to bat, they initially struggled to get going, despite a superb pace-setting partnership by Vaibhav Arora (2/30) and Harshit Rana (1/21 from three overs), two rookie new ball bowlers.
In consecutive overs, veteran bowlers Sunil Narine (2/28) and Varun Chakravarthy (1/38) got rid of Krunal and Quinton de Kock (28) to cheer up the KKR camp.
However, Pooran showed his ability to counterattack by smashing Chakravarthy for two fours and a six to begin the recovery act.
Together with Ayush Badoni (25), Pooran scored 74 runs (47 balls) off only five sixes and four boundaries.
The KKR bowlers were the difference in their encounter, which they had to win, bowling 49 dot balls, or 8.1 overs, in total.
With Harshit Rana handing up only one run in the first over and coming back in the following over to remove Karan Sharma during the powerplay, the KKR new ball bowlers quickly established the pace.
However, De Kock and Mankad, facing Chakravarthy, KKR’s finest spinner this year, were able to maintain the run pace with 54/1 in the powerplay.
Arora’s double blow in the seventh over drove the visitors even farther just as LSG seemed to have settled down on a dry Eden pitch.
Marcus Stoinis of the LSG was out for a two-ball duck after receiving an unplayable delivery, while Mankad (26), who was attempting to go aerial, was also out.
Stoinis had no response when Arora clumsily caused the short ball to rise, causing his glove to get caught at the slip.
LSG had De Kock and captain Krunal Pandya to repair the damage when they reached 55/3 in 6.5 overs, but the combination lacked effort and was dismissed in consecutive overs after playing rash strokes.
In his first over, Narine dismissed Krunal, then Chakravarthy removed the experienced De Kock for a terrible slog sweep.