Questions raised on sending Nicholas Pooran in the Super Over, “Probably no one would have played Narine more than Pooran”: Coach Justin Langer
IPL 2026: In an exciting match played on Sunday in IPL 2026, Kolkata Knight Riders defeated Lucknow Super Giants in a match that lasted till the Super Over. This was LSG’s fifth consecutive defeat this season, after which the team reached the bottom 10th position in the points table.
The biggest discussion in this match was about the decision to send Nicholas Pooran to bat during the Super Over. Puran, who is struggling with poor form, has been struggling to score runs throughout the season, but captain Rishabh Pant put him in to bat in the Super Over. Puran was out on the very first ball, after which this decision started being heavily criticized.
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However, LSG head coach Justin Langer defended the decision. In the press conference after the match, Langer said that he thought Nicholas Pooran would be the best option against Sunil Narine in the Super Over. Langer said, “We knew that Sunil Narine would bowl and if you look at Nicky (Pooran’s) record, hardly anyone would have faced Narine more than him in world cricket. So we thought he would be the best option. I knew he was not in form, but we thought that if anyone can handle the Super Over, it is Nicky Pooran. You support your best players.”
He further said, “He is struggling, but statistically no one can play a world class spinner like Narine better than Nicky. Unfortunately, it did not happen this time.” The decision to send Nicholas Pooran in the Super Over is also being criticized because his record in the Super Over has been very poor. He was already looking out of rhythm in IPL 2026. In this match also, he scored only 9 runs in 12 balls and became the victim of Varun Chakraborty. Even before this, he had batted in the Super Over four times, where he was able to score only 1 run in 9 balls. Even on Sunday, he was out on the very first ball of Narine.
Earlier, batting first, KKR scored 155 runs for 7 wickets thanks to Rinku Singh’s unbeaten 83 runs. In reply, LSG team could only score 155 runs for 8 wickets in 20 overs and the match reached super over. Sunil Narine bowled for KKR in the Super Over. Nicholas Pooran and Aiden Markram came out to bat for LSG. Narine dismissed Puran on the very first ball. After this Rishabh Pant came to bat and took 1 run. Markram was also out on the third ball. In this way LSG scored only 2 runs in the super over. KKR got an easy target of 2 runs to win. Rinku Singh gave the team a spectacular victory by hitting a four on the very first ball.
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