When MI London needed someone to shift the match decisively in their favour, Nicholas Pooran provided exactly that. Walking in at 51 for 3 after 44 deliveries, with the chase of 144 still very much in the balance, the West Indian left-hander produced an innings of 58 not out from 22 balls — five sixes, four fours, a strike rate that rendered the Sunrisers attack powerless in the closing stages of the match at the Kia Oval.
It is worth noting that this innings carries no officially confirmed Man of the Match award beyond the Meerkat Match Hero recognition stated at the ground, where Pooran was named the standout performer based on his in-game contributions. The evidence from the ball-by-ball record supports that recognition without qualification.
The Conditions That Shaped the Innings
Pooran himself acknowledged that the surface was not easy to begin with. The pitch played slowly in the earlier stages of the chase, which contributed to MI London's top-order losing three wickets before the halfway point of their innings. Brydon Carse had been particularly testing, removing Will Jacks and dismissing Jason Roy for a duck on his birthday, before Nathan Ellis bowled out James Vince for 17. Sam Curran had continued to build an anchor knock, but the asking rate was climbing toward a run a ball with ten sets of five balls remaining.
When Pooran arrived, 92 were still required from 50 deliveries. That equation demanded more than a steady accumulation. It needed an innings of a different kind entirely.
Building Through the Spinners
Pooran's first significant impact came against Benny Howell's mixture of slower deliveries and knuckle balls. In a single set of five, he struck three boundaries — two fours and a six — taking 14 from that period and moving MI London's required rate back to a manageable position. A four swept to fine leg, a six launched straight over long on, and another four clipped off the pads demonstrated early that Pooran had read the surface quickly and was prepared to use his bottom-hand strength against any delivery that sat up.
Dan Lawrence's off-spin followed, and Pooran continued without hesitation. A six that barely cleared the boundary — described as kissing the moon on its way down — was followed by more busy running as he and Curran accumulated steadily between the bigger hits. By the time the strategic timeout arrived at the end of the 60th ball, MI London needed 56 from 40. The match had tilted.
The Acceleration Against Pace
What separated Pooran's innings from a conventional cameo was his ability to treat pace bowling with the same contempt he had shown the spinners. Against Matthew Potts, who had been economical in earlier spells, Pooran struck a six off a length delivery at 82mph, thumped over to the deep midwicket boundary. Against Abrar Ahmed, he swept one high over square leg and then slapped another over long on in consecutive deliveries, taking 12 from the set alone.
The fifty arrived off 19 balls — the fastest half-century in the franchise's history across its incarnations, confirmed during the broadcast — when Ellis delivered a full ball onto off stump and Pooran worked it around the corner to fine leg. By that point the match was effectively settled. With 17 needed from 25 and two set batters at the crease, Sunrisers had no realistic route back.
The Partnership With Sam Curran
It would be incomplete to discuss Pooran's innings without acknowledging the platform Sam Curran had helped construct. Curran finished unbeaten on 60 from 39 deliveries after his own patient accumulation through the difficult early phase, and Pooran acknowledged as much in his post-match comments — noting that Vince and Curran had weathered the difficult period and that he came in to build on that foundation. The partnership between the two left-handers produced 93 runs from 40 deliveries to complete the chase.
Their fifty stand arrived in just 23 deliveries, a pace that effectively ended Sunrisers' hopes. Curran's contribution was a proper captain's innings — measured through the difficult phase, then accelerating when the conditions allowed — but Pooran's entry changed the tempo of the entire chase within his first few deliveries.
The Winning Moment
The match was sealed in fitting fashion. Potts returned for his final set of five and Pooran launched the decisive boundary beyond mid off's reach — a four that completed the chase with 16 balls remaining. MI London won by seven wickets. Pooran finished 58 not out, having faced only 22 deliveries.
For context, a note from the commentary during the innings referenced that Pooran had recently scored 106 from 33 deliveries in a T20 match at the Oakland Coliseum, so his capacity to produce innings of this velocity was not without precedent. At the Kia Oval, before a crowd of 20,540, he demonstrated that form had carried over. MI London's captain Sam Curran, reflecting on the innings, observed that he had been on the receiving end of that kind of batting before and suggested Pooran would have considerable fun at this ground going forward.
The knock left Sunrisers, who had bowled well enough in the powerplay to reduce MI London to early trouble, without answers in the final third of the chase. Their total of 143 had appeared competitive given the pitch conditions and their early breakthroughs. Pooran's innings made it insufficient.
