Without a shadow of a doubt, Nicholas Pooran has been the best batter of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season. The Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) batter has played seven innings, recorded just one single-digit score, and scored four half-centuries.
In his first six innings, he’d already scored 349 runs. Pooran was averaging almost seventy and hitting over two runs per ball. But when he went against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK), everything changed.
Pooran had an impressive record against the five-time champions, with a 35.57 average and a 157.59 strike rate. In the form of his life, you’d expect that the southpaw improve his already impressive stats against CSK.
Dhoni Review System strikes
What many took into account was the MS Dhoni effect. The legendary wicketkeeper is a master tactician and reader of the game. Pooran hadn’t raced off the blocks and wasn’t at his best.
Anshul Kamboj bowled a full bowl angling in from round the wicket and hit Pooran on his back leg. The pacer basically pleaded with the umpire to raise his finger. But he didn’t budge.
Dhoni didn’t look that confident. But Kamboj’s confidence swayed him. He signalled the ‘T’ to the umpire. Replays showed no contact was made between the pad and the bat. The ball tracking displayed three reds. Kamboj was delighted, and the Dhoni Review System (DRS) struck once again for CSK.
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