CHENNAI: After Nicholas Pooran's 26-ball 70 against Sunrisers Hyderabad earlier this season, the southpaw gave a peak into what has made him into a modern six-hitting freak.
The simple, uncomplicated answer was nothing. Just 'timing,' according to him. "I just try my best to get in good positions and if it's there, just time the ball nicely," the West Indian had said. "In the last nine years, I have been working on my craft.
"I have never worked on my bat speed, I'm just blessed with incredible talent. In that same interview, he had mentioned the plan is to never hit sixes.
On Tuesday, he lit up the Eden Gardens just as natural light was beginning to lose its effect. He likes to muscle balls but the one big difference these days is he doesn't lose his balance. The areas he likes to access have remained the same (leg side) but his head remains still and there's greater belief in his skillset.
It's what has enabled him to become one of the finest batters in this format. There was a time when he was a hot and cold batter, especially early on in his career.
These days, you cannot possibly construct a gun T20 squad without having him in your top-order. Since the start of last year, he's not only the leading six-hitter (211) but also the batter with the most fours (210). Sure, he plays a lot of games in this format around the world but his balls faced per boundary is a barely believable 4.37.
He went much better than that as the hapless Kolkata Knight Riders bowlers repeatedly came under fire. On a surface that became better for batting as the evening wore on, he only came into bat after 10.2 overs thanks to another big opening stand. But he got to work straight away.
After a couple of boundaries through the off-side off Spencer Johnson, he used his long levers to nullify the threat of Varun Chakravarthy. After that, he swept Sunil Narine for six before going downtown.
It was six-hitting in excelsis and the spinners kept travelling. A sequence of 404646 off Andre Russell moved the visitors to a position of comfort. This over, in a nutshell is what the 29-year-old is all about. His lightning quick bat speed and swinging zone both came into play as he accessed different areas of the leg side right from fine leg to over the bowler's head.
This incredible assault meant the visitors just about managed to get above par on a good strip with no signs of the ball holding. Kolkata gave it a good go but finished on the wrong side of the result when chasing 239.
Lucknow, though, continue to roll. Their squad construction is flawed — no overseas bowler of any note — but with Pooran in this kind of form, and Mitchell Marsh in his elements, it hasn't mattered.
It just feels unsustainable but it will be fun as long as it lasts.
Brief scores: LSG 238/3 in 20 ovs (Markram 47, Marsh 81, Pooran 87; Rana 2/51) bt KKR 234/7 in 20 ovs (Narine 30, Rahane 61, Venkatesh 45, Rinku 38; Akash 2/55, Thakur 2/52).
