Kolkata, Apr 8: Nicholas Pooran's unbeaten 87 and Mitchell Marsh's 81 powered Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) to their second-highest-ever total of 238/3 in 20 overs against Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 at the Eden Gardens here on Tuesday.

It was a Marsh and Markram show early on as the experienced overseas opening duo nullified KKR’s power-play plans with clinical aggression. Vaibhav Arora, hailed recently as a power-play specialist by Venkatesh Iyer, struggled to trouble the right-handed opening pair.

His first over was tidy, but Spencer Johnson bore the brunt as Marsh took him apart over midwicket, and Markram followed up with three boundaries in an over. By the end of the power-play, LSG had raced to 59 without loss.

Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy were introduced soon after, but with little effect. Marsh and Markram took 38 runs from the four overs of spin, continuing their authoritative batting display. Markram’s promising innings came to an end at 47 when Harshit Rana cleaned him up with a sharp off-cutter. The opening stand was worth 99.

Nicholas Pooran joined Marsh at the crease and wasted no time in announcing himself. The southpaw took down Narine, a bowler who had historically dominated him in the IPL. With consecutive sixes over the short leg-side boundary and long-off, Pooran not only fixed a personal stat but also injected further momentum into the LSG innings.

Meanwhile, Marsh brought up his fourth fifty in five innings this season, matching elite names like Warner, Kohli, and Gayle for most 50+ scores in the first five innings of an IPL season. He reached his half-century in the 11th over off 36 balls and continued to hammer the KKR attack, racing to 81 before Andre Russell broke the 71-run stand by getting Marsh caught at deep point. Pooran, on the other hand, continued to feast on the KKR bowlers. He reached his fifty with back-to-back sixes off Harshit Rana in 21 deliveries.

Pooran put the finishing touches to the innings by mauling the bowlers. He ended the day on a 36-ball 87, with eight sixes, which is also his highest IPL score so far. Before his assault, Mitchell Marsh crunched 81 in 48 while Aiden Markram hammered 47 in 28 as LSG posted their highest innings total.

It was a forgettable day for the KKR bowlers. Johnson went for 15.33 per over, Rana at 12.75, Narine at 12.66 and Russell at 16.

Brief scores:

Lucknow Super Giants 238/3 in 20 overs (Nicholas Pooran 87 not out, Mitchell Marsh 81; Harshit Rana 2-51, Andre Russell 1-32) against Kolkata Knight Riders

(IANS)

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