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.
