Ajay Motiwala
Lucknow: In Sunday’s thrilling encounter between Lucknow Super Giants and Kolkata Knight Riders, the hosts suffered an embarrassing defeat in the Super Over after the main match ended in a tie. However, Lucknow had a strong chance to win the match in regular time but failed to capitalize. Caribbean batter Nicholas Pooran can be held largely responsible for this loss.
The Sanjiv Goenka-owned franchise pays Pooran ₹21 crore for the season, but he has been a complete flop in all eight matches so far. As things stand, each run scored by Pooran has cost the franchise approximately ₹15 lakh.
Failure in both main match and Super Over
Pooran managed just 9 runs off 12 balls in the main match on Sunday. Batting at No. 4, he was caught by Sunil Narine off the bowling of Varun Chakravarthy.
When the match went into the Super Over, captain Rishabh Pant showed faith in Pooran by sending him out to bat alongside Aiden Markram. However, Pooran was clean bowled on the very first ball by Sunil Narine.
Pant scored one run, but Markram was also dismissed soon after, and Lucknow’s Super Over ended at just one run. In reply, Rinku Singh hit a boundary off the very first ball to seal a dramatic win for Kolkata.
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Pooran’s disappointing run this season
Pooran’s scores in IPL 2026 so far:
vs Delhi – 8
vs Hyderabad – 1
vs Kolkata – 13
vs Gujarat – 19
vs Bengaluru – 1
vs Punjab – 9
vs Rajasthan – 22
vs Kolkata – 9
Poor record in Super Overs
Pooran has a dismal record in Super Overs: 0, 0, 0, 1, 0.
Despite this, the team management and captain Rishabh Pant trusted him, a decision that has drawn heavy criticism.
Not delivering when it matters
The 30-year-old left-handed batter from the West Indies has played 98 IPL matches across three teams, scoring a total of 2,375 runs, including 171 sixes and 162 fours. However, on Sunday, he failed to deliver when it mattered most for Lucknow.
How did each run cost ₹15 lakh?
Even if Lucknow fail to reach the playoffs, Pooran is expected to be available for all 14 league matches and will earn his full season salary of ₹21 crore.
Having already played 8 matches, approximately ₹12 crore of his salary is effectively accounted for. However, he has scored only 82 runs in these matches.
Dividing ₹12 crore by 82 runs means that each run has cost the Lucknow franchise roughly ₹15 lakh so far.
