A West Indies left-hander dominating T20 cricket while striking sixes at will? You’d be forgiven for thinking we have been here before.
But, with another devastating innings in the Indian Premier League on Tuesday, Nicholas Pooran continued his remarkable run of form in the shortest format – a run that is threatening to rewrite the rulebooks.
Since the start of last year he has scored 738 more T20 runs than anyone else, is averaging 42.31, and is doing so while batting with a strike-rate of 162.49.
Batters generally have a high strike-rate or average in T20s. Pooran is managing to achieve both.
Is Pooran best in the world and better than Gayle?
Condense the timeframe further and Pooran’s statistics are even more remarkable.
In his last 10 innings he is averaging 57.7 while striking at 199, suggesting he has found the cheat code.
He has hit 211 sixes since the start of 2024. The next batter on the list is South African Heinrich Klaasen on 124.
Pooran, 29, broke former West Indies team-mate Chris Gayle’s record for the most sixes in a calendar year last year – he hit 139 to Gayle’s 135 in 2015 – and after scores of 70, 75, 44, 12 and 87 not out in this year’s IPL is averaging 4.8 sixes per match this season.
No-one can better that in the IPL’s history with Gayle’s average of 3.9 per match during his peak years in 2012 the next best record.
“I don’t plan to hit sixes,” Pooran said earlier in the season.
“I just try my best to get in good positions and if it’s there, just time the ball nicely.”
What makes Pooran so good?
Pooran is regarded as one of the world’s best hitters of spin.
Over the past two IPL seasons, playing for Lucknow Super Giants, he has scored 448 runs at an average of 89.6 and strike-rate of 184.4 against slow bowlers – again suggesting he can bat with severe aggression while not getting out.
He stands with a classical-looking, slightly-open stance, taps the ground once as the spinner enters his delivery stride and then thrashes the ball with his fast hands.
“I’ve never worked on my bat speed, I’m just blessed with incredible talent,” Pooran said.
The Trinidadian is not afraid to dispatch pace either. His strike-rate is 173.5 against left-arm quicks and 163.5 against right-armers.
According to analysts CricViz, there is not one line of pace bowling Pooran does not strike at more than 200 against at the death.
He strikes at more than 200 against every length except for yorkers, against which he takes down bowlers at a still-remarkable 166.
“He is a hard worker. No one ever sees that,” former England all-rounder Samit Patel, who has played with Pooran at Trinbago Knight Riders and MI Emirates, told the BBC.
“The amount of training he does to try and hit sixes is phenomenal.
“His mindset is absolutely second to none and he is fully committed. There are no half-hearted swings.
“Having seen him train, if the ball lands in a certain area, he has trained and trained so it is natural to him [to hit sixes].”
Since the start of 2023, Pooran strikes at 344.7 runs per hundred balls when playing the slog sweep, 266.7 when playing a hook shot and 234.7 on the pull.
What can the bowlers do?
Having previously batted in the middle order, Lucknow Super Giants and West Indies now use Pooran as a number three.
The result has been him succeeding in each phase of the game – the powerplay, middle overs and the death.
Analysts CricViz measure a batter’s performance with their ‘batting impact’ model and Pooran is the only player the world to have an average impact above four in all three phases since 2023.
The only obvious chink in Pooran’s armour is against left-arm wrist-spin, against which he averages 31.5 and strikes at 108.6.
He does have a weakness against bouncers, but only when they are bowled in the channel just outside off stump.
Stray too wide and he averages 55.5. Get too straight with a line above the stumps and that number jumps to 126.
“Because he hits 360 degrees he is very difficult to bowl at,” Patel says.
“From a spinners point of view, we try and make him cut the ball. We try and make him hit behind the wicket.
“If he hits fours it’s OK. When he hits sixes we know he is dangerous.”
