IPL 2025: Pooran enjoying his dream run with the bat

West Indies star Nicholas Pooran was delighted after his explosive knock in a magnificent partnership with Mitchell Marsh set up a tense four-run win for Lucknow Super Giants in a high-scoring IPL clash against Kolkata Knight Riders on Tuesday.

Marsh smashed 81 for his fourth half-century of the tournament and Pooran an unbeaten 36-ball 87 to fire Lucknow to 238-3 at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens.

Kolkata mounted a strong reply as skipper Ajinkya Rahane struck 61 off 35 balls and Rinku Singh blasted an unbeaten 38 in a late blitz, but the home team finished on 234-7.

Lucknow have three wins from five matches. Kolkata, who won their third IPL title last year, have three defeats from their five outings.

“I think when we batted we didn’t realise but after the powerplay we knew it would be really close. After the first powerplay, we spoke with the bowlers about sticking to the plan and not trying to do too much,” LSG skipper Rishabh Pant said.

LSG fast bowler Akash Deep and Shardul Thakur took two wickets each and struck at key moments to trigger a middle-order collapse during which KKR lost four wickets in 16 balls.

Thakur dismissed Rahane and Andre Russell, for seven, while Deep cut short Venkatesh Iyer’s knock on 45.

Sunil Narine got the chase off to a brisk start with his 13-ball 30 and after his departure Rahane and Iyer kept up the charge until Kolkata lost their way.

Earlier, the in-form Marsh laid the foundations for Lucknow’s mammoth total in his 99-run opening stand with Aiden Markram, who hit 47.

Marsh took down the bowlers with regular boundaries and Markram was equally fluent in his 28-ball knock before Harshit Rana denied the South African a fifty.

Marsh reached his half-century with a boundary and with Pooran put on another destructive partnership until Russell broke through.

Russell dismissed Marsh but Pooran kept up the onslaught to reach his fifty in just 21 balls before he smacked Russell for three fours and two sixes in a 24-run 18th over.

Pant did not bat and is still waiting to justify his record auction price of $3.21 million.

Pooran is the leading run-scorer in the 2025 IPL so far with 288 runs including three half-centuries in five matches, scoring at a strike-rate of 225.

“I’ve been asked this a million times. I practice a lot. Everything you’re seeing in the game, it’s because of the practice. At the moment it’s just flowing really nicely,” said Pooran who is batting at number three.

“The role is just to get a start and carry on capitalising on my match-ups. I’ve been scoring consistently now and as the opportunity continues to present itself, I want to enjoy it.”

Marsh has accumulated 265 runs and is second on the list.