‘He is a dangerous batter’ - Suresh Raina lauds Nicholas Pooran after explosive knock against RCB

The 15th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 saw a fiery clash between Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and the KL Rahul-led Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Monday, April 10.

RCB came to bat first and put in an excellent performance as half centuries from Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis, and Glenn Maxwell helped their side post 212 runs on the board after 20 overs. In the second innings, Lucknow got off to the worst of starts as Kyle Mayers was dismissed for a duck and skipper Rahul struggled to take advantage of the field restrictions.

However, the middle-order came in clutch as Nicholas Pooran played a sensational knock, scoring the fastest half-century of the IPL 2023 so far (15 balls). The 27-year-old amassed 62 runs in just 19 deliveries, which ultimately led Lucknow to a win by one wicket.

After his sensational knock, former Indian cricketer Suresh Raina came forward to heap praise on the star keeper-batter's performance. "He is a dangerous batter. We’ve seen this finishing from MS Dhoni, Stoinis, Mitchell Marsh, Kieron Pollard, and Hardik Pandya, but he’s very different. To score a 50 off 15 balls for the fastest 50 of the season, especially at the time he did it," Raina told JioCinema.

It was a spectacular innings: Suresh Raina

Raina opined that Pooran’s knock is what ultimately won Lucknow the game and required a lot of belief and positivity. The former CSK star went on to emphasise the importance of the 27-year-old's performance.

"Even bigger than the 50 off 15 balls, Pooran got the win for his team. To win a match from that position, there must be a lot of positivity and belief that he can win matches at any time. The way he hit the ball around the ground, it was a spectacular innings," Raina said.

Apart from Pooran, impact player Ayush Badoni and Marcus Stoinis were exceptional during the run-chase as well, and when all seemed lost, Pooran and the others showed resilience and chased the target down, making the game one of the all-time classic.