“Criminal Decision To Send Nicholas Pooran”: LSG’s ‘Blunder’ In Super Over vs KKR Exposed By Dale Steyn

IPL 2026 witnessed its first Super Over on Sunday. Lucknow Super Giants pacer Mohammed Shami’s last-ball six against Kolkata Knight Riders ensured the match entered the Super Over after the scores were tied at 155 apiece. Quite surprisingly, Nicholas Pooran and Aiden Markram came out to bat against KKR veteran Sunil Narine. Pooran has been in awful form in IPL 2026, with scores of 8, 1, 13, 19, 1, 9 and 22 before Sunday’s clash. He was dismissed for 9 in regulation time, and yet LSG sent him out to take on the wily Sunil Narine in the Super Over. Pooran was bowled on the very first delivery, and KKR made full use of the momentum swing.

On the third ball of the Super Over, Markram was dismissed as well, leaving KKR with a target of just two runs. Rinku Singh then hit a four off the first ball to seal a memorable win for his team. South African pace great Dale Steyn was furious with LSG for not opting for other in-form batters and send Pooran.

“It was a criminal decision to send Nicholas Pooran in the Super Over. It could have gone either way for them, but at this stage of the tournament, you want to win. I don’t think you should send a batter who hasn’t scored runs the entire season. You send the batter who has been hitting the ball out of the ground, and you trust them to do that. You back them. I don’t think Nicholas Pooran himself believes he can do it with the kind of form he’s in,” Steyn said on Star Sports.

“It’s unfortunate because he is such a wonderful player. But when you want to get your season back up and running – when you want to resurrect your season – you don’t make blunders like that, not at this level,” he added.

Both the Super Giants and the Knight Riders finished on 155 after a total of 40 overs were bowled. It was Rinku Singh’s well-paced 83 not out off 51 balls that proved to be the catalyst for KKR’s total of 155 for 7 earlier.

Once LSG restricted KKR to that modest total, courtesy Mohsin Khan’s five-wicket haul, they had an excellent opportunity to register a rare home victory.

However, the hosts stumbled against a disciplined Kolkata bowling attack on a slow black-soil pitch.

The result pushed KKR to eighth on the points table with five points, while LSG slumped to the bottom with four points.

The Super Giants boast several big names in their squad – skipper Rishabh Pant, Markram, Mitchell Marsh and Pooran – but none of them were able to provide direction or shape to LSG’s chase.

Pant (42) and Markram (31) looked in good touch as they added 57 runs for the second wicket after the early departure of Marsh. However, Markram fell to Cameron Green‘s pace-off delivery, while Pant’s attempted reverse scoop off Narine resulted in a catch to wicketkeeper Tim Seifert.

This left LSG’s fate in the hands of young domestic players Ayush Badoni, Himmat Singh and Mukul Choudhary. They brought the equation down to 17 off the final over with a mix of luck and determination. Two successive no-balls from Kartik Tyagi further reduced the target to 12 off five deliveries.

Despite bowling two waist-high no-balls, Tyagi was allowed to continue after the second was deemed non-dangerous by the officials. He dismissed Himmat Singh, leaving LSG needing eight off the final three balls, but Mohammed Shami’s last-ball six forced the season’s first Super Over.

With PTI inputs

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