Gujarat Titans bowler Mohammed Siraj, on Thursday, was left red-faced after Lucknow Super Giants vice-captain Nicholas Pooran gave a brutal reply to his constant sledging during their IPL 2025 face-off at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Pooran smashed an unbeaten fifty as Lucknow, who are already out of the race to make the playoffs, posted a massive target of 236 against the table-toppers.
The incident happened during the 16th over of the first innings of the match when Siraj had a go at Pooran after the third ball. But the latter did not respond at all, and just chewed his gum and walked towards fellow LSG batter Mitchell Marsh for a chat. Siraj’s act even forced the umpire to intervene as he walked towards the GT bowler to calm him down.
Siraj pursued his act in unsettling Pooran as he once again verbally attacked the West Indies international after the next ball, only in vain, as the latter maintained a poker face.
Revenge is best served cold, and the left-hander had the perfect reply on the fifth ball as he smashed the cross-seam, fuller delivery for a six over deep mid-wicket. This time Siraj had nothing to say as he simply walked back to take his position as commentator, Simon Doull, asked on air: “What have you got to say now?” Pooran, meanwhile, only had a wry smile to show, having silenced Siraj. But it did not end there.
Siraj pulled back his length on the final ball of the over, while keeping his line around the leg stump, but Pooran showed no mercy and he cleared the front leg again and lofted it comfortably down the ground for a boundary. Pooran held the pose in Siraj’s direction, then kissed his bat, followed by a flying kiss in the bowler’s direction.
An over later, Pooran reached the half-century mark in 23 balls. This was the fifth time this season that he scored a fifty in 25 balls or fewer, the most by any IPL batter in a single edition. It was also his first half-century knock since April 12, which was also against Gujarat. Since that game, he managed scores of 8, 11, 9, 27, 6 and 45.
“It happened, unfortunately, I wasn’t up to the standards but everyone goes through patches. I’ve accepted that and just want to continue to make the most of opportunities, and accept certain failures,” Pooran said in the mid-innings chat, speaking on his dip in form.
Pooran’s fiery knock, along with a maiden IPL ton from Mitchell Marsh, saw Lucknow finish with 235 for two, their third-highest first-innings total in IPL.
