Nicholas Pooran for MI Emirates. (Source - Zee Cricket/X.COM)
In a significant turn of events, Nicholas Pooran was seen at his agressive best from the very first ball as the MI Emirates’ skipper wasted no time and marked his arrival in the middle with two fours and a six in the ongoing International League T20 2025 (ILT20) Eliminator match between MI Emirates and Sharjah Warriorz in Abu Dhabi.
Nicholas Pooran is regarded as one of the best strikers of the ball in the modern day game. His six hitting abilities, be it in T20 internationals or franchise cricket can be matched by very few amongst the present era cricketers. The southpaw is currently captaining MI Emirates in the third edition of the ILT20 and has managed to lead the side through to the knockouts.
Nicholas Pooran Comes Out Firing
Despite having a below average ILT20 2025 with only one half century in the tournament, the Trinidadian was all set to create an impact as he always does in big matches. Pooran, who came to the middle after the fall of Will Jacks, announced himself onto the crease with two boundaries and a six in the first three balls.
It was the last over of the powerplay and Ashton Agar just cleaned up Jacks with a terrific arm ball. With three balls remaining in the over, Pooran, went for the slog-sweep in the very first ball, managed a boundary towards long-on region.
As a reply, Agar pushed his line towards the off-side and Pooran cut it behind square for another boundary, which was followed by another slog-sweep, sweetly timed this time and the ball went over mid-wicket for a huge six.
Earlier, MI Emirates had a rough start to the innings and needed to get the best out of the last over of the powerplay. They could only manage 34 runs on the board as Aussies left-arm spinner was introduced to keep the momentum going for Sharjah Warriorz.
Agar did manage to get the wicket of Will Jacks but the arrival of Nicholas Pooran ensured that MI Emirates gets the much needed push in the scoring rate. As a result, MI Emirates finished the powerplay with a decent 48 with the loss of two wickets.
Pooran continued to keep the scoreboard moving but got outdone by a well planned short ball from Dilshan Madushanka and the MI Emirates' skipper had to depart after a brisk 42 off 22. The Warrioz further kept taking wickets in clusters and never allowed any MI Emirates to get going.
At the time of writing MI Emirates finished with just 146 on the board at the end of 20 overs, leaving a mountain to climb for their bowlers to defend this total and take them through to the ILT20 2025 Qualifier 2.