IPL 2023: LSG Won By One Wicket! Nicholas Pooran’s Fastest Half-Century Of This Season In 15 Balls

Bangalore, 10th April 2023: A firework of fours and sixes was seen today on a Chinnaswamy stadium with a pitch conducive to batting. Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis, and Glenn Maxwell played a storming inning as Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) piled up a mountain of 212 runs.

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) beat RCB by one wicket to register their third win in the tournament. With this win, the team reached the top position in the points table. Lucknow Super Giants won the toss and elected to bowl first and RCB set a target of 213 for Lucknow when they batted first. In reply, Lucknow lost nine wickets to reach the target.

LSG did not get off to the expected start and their innings remained slow in the power play. Marcus Stoinis and Nicholas Pooran came on to turn the match around with a terrific knock for LSG. Pooran smashed the fastest half-century in IPL 2023 in 15 balls to pull the match into RCB’s hands.

Mohammed Siraj took a wicket of LSG’s opener Kyle Mayers in the first over. Wayne Parnell, who returned to the RCB team after nine years, gave Lucknow two blows in his first over. Deepak Hooda (9) and Krunal Pandya (0) were caught by Dinesh Karthik.

Marcus Stoinis came on and set the pace. He gave Lucknow a dream victory as he completed his half-century in 25 balls. Karn Sharma gave RCB a crucial wicket. He scored 65 off 30 balls with six fours and five sixes.

KL Rahul then tried to take an aggressive stance, but Siraj took his wicket. Virat took a good catch and sent KL Rahul back for 18 runs. Nicholas reduced the distance between the ball and the run by hitting three consecutive sixes. He scored 38 runs in the 13th and 14th overs together. Ayush Badoni was seen supporting him well.

Nicolas crossed the 1,000-run mark in IPL today. Nicholas completed his half-century in 15 balls, breaking the record of Ajinkya Rahane (in 19 balls) for the fastest half-century this season. RCB fans were disappointed to see Pooran’s knock and the stadium was eerily quiet.

Lucknow needed 28 runs in 24 balls and seeing the play of Nicholas and Badoni, it was certainly not impossible. Siraj bowled the 17th over well. The last full toss in that over was pulled by Pooran and caught by Shahbaz Ahmed. Pooran returned to 62 off 19 balls with four fours and seven sixes.

LSG needed 24 runs off 18 balls. Pooran and Badoni’s partnership of 84 runs was broken. Now all the focus was on Badoni. Siraj took three wickets for 22 runs. LSG needed 15 runs from 12 balls. Ayush Badoni hits Sup for a six, but his bat hits the wickets. He scored 30 runs.

With RCB two overs behind, they were penalized for keeping four players outside 30 yards instead of five. Harshal Patel took a wicket of Mark Wood off the second ball.

Ravi Bishnoi cleverly escaped with two runs off the first ball and the score was three balls and two runs needed. Bishnoi took a run off the next ball and the runs were the same. RCB then got the wicket of Jaydev Unadkat in a critical situation. The calculation was one ball and one run and the new batsman was on strike.

Earlier, Virat scored 46 fifties and five centuries in IPL. 41-year-old Amit Mishra gave RCB the first blow. Virat hit four fours and four sixes in 44 balls and was dismissed for 61 runs. Faf and Maxwell completed the century partnership in 43 balls while hitting fours and sixes. Faf remained unbeaten on 79 off 46 balls with five fours and five sixes, while Maxwell was dismissed on 59 off 29 balls with three fours and six sixes. RCB scored 212 for two wickets. Faf hit the longest six of 115 meters in IPL 2023 to reach the roof of the stadium.