6, 6, 6, 4: Nicholas Pooran Lights Up Wankhede with Second Fastest Fifty for LSG - WATCH

Nicholas Pooran and captain KL Rahul put up a dynamic show at Wankhede stadium when Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) locked horns with hosts Mumbai Indians (MI) in their last IPL league stage on Friday. The Caribbean power-hitter smashed a hat-trick of sixes to Naman Dhir to bring up his third half-century in the ongoing season. However, after featuring in a game-changing 109-run stand with the LSG skipper for the fourth wicket, Pooran ended up scoring 75 off 29 balls, with the help of 8 sixes and five boundaries.

MI vs LSG IPL 2024 Live

After being out to bat, LSG lost Devdutt Padikal early in the innings and were reduced to 69/3 in 9.3 overs when Pooran and Rahul joined forces. The duo wasted no time in accelerating the innings with Pooran going bang-bang and Rahul playing the second fiddle.

Came the 15^th over when Arjun Tendulkar was into attack but Pooran greeted him with back-to-back sixes, over the deep backward square leg fence, to bring up his fifty off 19 balls. Tendulkar then left the field in discomfort while skipper Hardik Pandya threw the ball to Naman Dhir to complete the over. But Pooran treated him no differently.

The third ball of the over was a flighted delivery and Pooran slog-swept over deep square leg to complete a hat-trick of sixes. He looked to make it four in four but it fell short by a few inches and went for a one-bounce over extra-cover. Pooran then took a single and handed the strike to his skipper who finished the over with another maximum over wide long-on. The duo collected 29 runs from the over to as LSG went past 150.

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Pooran’s 19-ball fifty was the second-fastest by any batter for LSG in IPL. The former West Indies captain also holds the record for the fastest half-century for his team; off 15 balls against RCB last year in Bengaluru.

Fastest fifty for LSG (by balls faced)

15 – Nicholas Pooran vs RCB, Bengaluru, 2023

19 – Nicholas Pooran vs MI, Wankhede, 2024

20 – Kyle Mayers vs PBKS, Mohali, 2023

21 – Kyle Mayers vs CSK, Chennai, 2023

It was also Pooran’s third fifty that he scored in less than 20 balls. The other batters to have the most IPL fifties scored in less than 20 balls are Travis Head and Jake Fraser-McGurk, with three half-centuries each.