“Nice to win in front of the home crowd”: Pooran

After his side’s 21-run win against Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, Lucknow Super Giants’ (LSG) stand-in skipper Nicholas Pooran said that it was ‘nice’ to clinch a victory in front of the home crowd.

Also Read: IPL 2024: Mayank Yadav’s spell of 3/27 guides LSG to victory over PBKS

While speaking at the post-match presentation, Pooran showered praise on Shikhar Dhawan and Jonny Bairstow and said that they played well for the Punjab Kings.

Talking about Mayank Yadav’s magnificent bowling figures, he said that it was an ‘inspiring performance’ from the youngster.

“Wonderful start, nice to win in front of the home crowd. We had conversations, spoke about getting good starts. Spoke about getting the right combinations. It was a good total. It’s a big venue, one side is big, one side short. It’s about getting wickets and getting boundaries. It’s only going to get challenging.

Shikhar and Bairstow played well. They didn’t take the game away from us as we got wickets at the right time. Mayank’s was the story of the night.That was an inspiring performance, he (Mayank) is a young guy. He showed the entire world how good he is. He is not only fast, but also is accurate. It’s the beauty of the IPL, gives the local players to perform. Wonderful platform. Every game is an opportunity, expect them to get better with every game. The groundsmen have contributed, as a batsman you can’t ask for anything more,” Pooran said.

Recapping the match between Lucknow and Punjab, fiery knocks from Quinton de Kock (54 runs from 38 balls), Nicholas Pooran (42 runs from 21 balls), and Krunal Pandya (43* runs from 22 balls) powered the hosts to 199/8.

Sam Curran led the Punjab’s bowling attack after he scalped three wickets from his four over spell. Arshdeep Singh bagged two wickets after delivering three overs. Kagiso Rabada and Rahul Chahar could manage to take just one wicket in their respective spells.

In reply to LSG’s 199 runs, PBKS openers Shikhar Dhawan and Jonny Naistow started off the chase with a positive and aggressive approach. Both batters put on a 50-run partnership in the 5.1 overs Dhawan slammed a boundary on the bowling of left-arm seamer Mohsin Khan.

Mayank took his maiden wicket of his IPL career as he dismissed Bairstow on the fourth ball of the 12th over. The right-hand batter was sent back to the pavilion after scoring 42 runs off just 29 balls, which were laced with three fours and three sixes each in the innings. He built an outstanding partnership of 102 runs with Dhawan.

Soon after the first wicket by Mayank, the momentum shifted towards the LSG side as the hosts were successful in clinching a 21-run win over Punjab.