Stoinis + Pooran - De Kock : Just Lucknow Super Giants Things!

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Perhaps it’s because they are still very new and seem fresh. Or perhaps it could be down to the fact that this second edition of the Indian Premier League is an indication of these being still early days for them in the premier T20 franchise competition of the world. 

The Lucknow SuperGiants, if one were to note, are actually not just among the newest arrivals at the grand carnival that is the IPL; they are, as a matter of fact, among the youngest teams we have in the elite competition. 

Only three players, if one were to look at their most recent eleven, as seen against Punjab last evening, actually happen to be in their thirties with Kyle Mayers being exactly 30; Krunal Pandya and KL Rahul are 32 and 31, respectively. 

But you ought to be a highly talented team powered by the alacrity and capability of youth to actually completely ruffle the feathers of the opposition without having two of your most experienced campaigners contributing to the victory. 

Just as exemplary as the towering performances of Marcus Stoinis and Nicholas Pooran were the notable absences of KL Rahul, the captain, and his India contemporary Krunal Pandya among the big runs. 

There was little that came Pandya’s way and Rahul, rather sadly, failed to get going the other night. The latter perhaps not surprising the Rahul bashers at all; a lot that finds its purpose in life is assuming that KL has none whatsoever. 

Though, factually speaking, when you have a Stoinis, followed by a Pooran and Hooda in your middle order, you are chuffed and motivated to apply the cricket bat akin to Thor’s hammer over your opponent. 

A top-heavy batting order featuring Kyle Mayers and KL Rahul is then tied to a punchier middle order renowned for exemplary hitting and where yesterday’s contest was concerned, then surely, the Punjab Cricket Association ground did indeed become the epicentre of hitting. 

But not frequently occurring- if not entirely rare- are occasions where much of the middle order is able to further capitalise on the starts given by one among the opening duo.  

After all, it’s not every day that IPL teams target the evergreen biggest-of-them-all team score of 263 and end up just six shy of matching RCB’s gargantuan tally. 

At Mohali, what Mayers began and with great intent, striking a 20-ball-fifty, disturbing the early rhythm of Arshdeep and Rabada in the process was bagged by Stoinis and Pooran as an excellent chance to further drill an under-fire opponent under the crushing of their bat. 

So much so that at the beginning of the match, the frequent debaters arguing for the great Quinton de Kock’s inclusion in the playing eleven, which still is a massive question, perhaps forgot about it on the whole with Stoinis and Pooran's fireworks saddening the home fans whilst serving elite entertainment for Lucknow’s growing fan base. 

Stoinis and Pooran were responsible for smoking 6 of the 14 huge sixes that Lucknow Super Giants bashed Punjab with. 

Of the 27 boundaries that Lucknow fired on an unsparing evening, Stoinis and Pooran bashed 13 between them. 

Marcus Stoinis and Nicholas Pooran dealt with a bowling lineup with remarkable talents such as Arshdeep, Rabada and Curran as if they were a bunch of random blokes belonging to a B-grade school team assembled at the very last hour to represent some nondescript cricketing tournament. 

While Pooran was a combination of flair and timing, frequently visiting the deep square leg and mid-wicket region to unleash his familiar strokes that tend to favour the on side, Stoinis was the one who turned on the John Wick mode not long after he arrived during his rollicking, whirlwind 72 off just 40 odd deliveries. 

A picture-perfect moment for a team comprising talents that could someday become cricketing giants, an occasion where the combination of the left and right-hand batters made for a postcard of carnage worth savouring! 

Though what was just as important as his sixth IPL half-century was that Marcus Stoinis’s quickfire leave-nothing-to-the-imagination 72 became a career-best score that sparkled in a winning cause for his team. 

On just the fifth delivery he faced, Stoinis would walk across the stumps to lift Gurnoor over square leg for a six. 

A sign of things to come. The next delivery would be driven towards the covers for a beautiful boundary. Lucknow were already inching towards hundred inside the eighth over. 

Though it wasn’t blind or brash hitting on Stoinis’ part that earned him the runs; there were instances like Sam Curran’s first over where the Australian opened the blade to guide the ball towards the third man boundary. 

His reading of Rahul Chahar and preempting the strokes having nearly read the mind of the spinner as if it was some premonition playing on in the ground was a sight to behold. 

Was this Stoinis’s finest IPL outing, you were compelled to think no other way.

But what’s most compelling is the aura of confidence that Lucknow are exuding despite it being amply clear that KL Rahul isn’t really firing up and someone as prominent as de Kock, the scorer of the fastest fifty in a T20 by a South African batsman, hasn’t even been played yet.