IPL 2025, KKR vs LSG: Presenting Player of the Day
What's the story
Lucknow Super Giants claimed a thrilling win over Kolkata Knight Riders in Match 21 of IPL 2025 at Eden Gardens.
The Super Giants successfully defended 238/3, now their second-highest first-innings total in IPL history.
Blistering knocks from Mitchell Marsh and Nicholas Pooran earlier powered LSG. It was Pooran's knock that tormented the Knight Riders in the middle overs.
The Caribbean dasher is our Player of the Day.
Match highlights
Pooran's explosive innings propels LSG to record total
Pooran walked in after openers Mitchell Marsh and Aiden Markram had stitched a solid 99 runs.
He took charge of the game in no time, smashing sixes all over the park. He even outsmarted bowlers Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine.
Pooran's stand with Marsh took LSG to 170.
After Marsh's wicket, Pooran finished unbeaten at a blistering 87 off just 36 balls, including 7 fours and 8 sixes.
Career milestones
2,000 IPL runs for Pooran
In his 81st match (78 innings), Pooran also completed 2,000 runs in the IPL.
He has scored 2,057 runs so far at an average of 34.86 and a strike rate of 168.88.
As per Cricbuzz, Pooran has become the second-fastest to 2,000 IPL runs in terms of balls. He took a mere 1,198 balls for the same. Pooran is only behind KKR's Andre Russell, who attained the feat in 1,120 balls.
Context
Why does this story matter?
As has been the case, Pooran played an intimidating knock, this time at Eden Gardens. KKR's ploy of keeping the ball away from him also tanked.
The Caribbean batter countered this by slamming a couple of sixes on the off side. His propensity to strike every other ball for a maximum made him our Player of the Day.
Notably, Pooran collected 24 runs off the 18th over bowled by Russell.