It was the kind of match that keeps you hooked till the last ball, and then somehow ends before you can even process what just happened. Rishabh Pant now finds himself at the center of the conversation after a Super Over call involving Nicholas Pooran went completely off script.
The game between Lucknow Super Giants and Kolkata Knight Riders never really had a clear winner throughout. KKR put up 155/7, a total that felt competitive without being out of reach. LSG’s chase followed a similar pattern, moments of promise mixed with setbacks, eventually reaching 155/8. It all came down to the final ball, where Mohammed Shami cleared the ropes to level the scores at 155-155. From there, a Super Over felt like the perfect way to settle things.
Except it didn’t quite play out like that. Pant chose to back Pooran in the one-over shootout, even though the left-hander hasn’t quite hit top gear this IPL season. There have been flashes, but not the kind of consistent impact you’d expect from someone in that role. In a pressure moment, those details tend to matter more.
The Super Over lasted one ball before things started going wrong. Pooran was dismissed immediately, and just like that, LSG were on the back foot. There was no recovery either. The innings ended at 1/2, leaving almost nothing to defend. KKR needed 2 runs. They got it on the first ball. What had been a tight contest for 40 overs suddenly ended in seconds.
Rishabh Pant’s call that reopened old concerns
Part of the reaction comes from the fact that this isn’t entirely new territory for Pooran. There’s an old memory from the Caribbean Premier League, a Super Over against Sunil Narine back in 2014. That over never really got going either. Pooran played out four dot balls in a row before getting out on the fifth delivery, leaving his side with almost no score to work with.
Moments like that tend to stick, especially when something similar happens again. That’s why this decision stood out. With the match on the line and other options around, backing a player who hasn’t been at his best this season, and who has had difficult Super Over outings before, felt like a risk. This time, it lasted just one delivery.
From 155/7 and 155/8 after 40 overs to 1 run in the Super Over and a one-ball finish, the swing was sharp and sudden. T20 cricket doesn’t give you much time to recover from a call that doesn’t work, and this was one of those moments where everything flipped almost instantly.
That said, with just two wins in eight games for LSG so far, the tide needs to turn soon or they will have a season to forget this IPL campaign.