On April 23, Lucknow Super Giants defeated Chennai Super Kings in their own backyard at Chepauk Stadium. Nicholas Pooran and Marcus Stoinis played their roles well with the bat and Matthew Hayden looked quite impressed with Pooran. Nicholas Puran scored 34 runs in 15 balls against CSK.

Speaking exclusively on Star Sports Cricket Live, former Australia cricketer Matthew Hayden talked about the batting performance of Lucknow Super Giants on Tuesday night.

“I want to talk about Nicholas Pooran. Padikkal was putting Marcus Stoinis under immense pressure in the 19 balls he played before getting out. But as soon as he was out, it proved to be a matter of happiness for LSG. Nicholas Pooran came to the crease and this put an accelerator on the pace of Lucknow’s runs.

“I think Nicholas Pooran is the cleanest hitter in the world in this IPL. He is a very talented batsman. He has excellent options against both pace and spin. While Marcus was playing innings like Rituraj, Puran was also supporting him by playing explosive innings like Shivam Dubey.

Matthew Hayden explains how Lucknow Supergiants can use Nicholas Pooran?

I have discussed with my partner Justin Langer when, how and where they can use him. There are two things – there is a school of thought that says, we need a player batting at No. 5 and No. 6 who can finish matches and win and Nicholas Pooran can do exactly that.

But then you see, you know, a player like Devdutt Padikkal has not had the good tournament this year that you were expecting. And you have a world-class player in Nicholas Pooran who can come in to bat higher up the order with Stoinis and come in at number four and bat for a long time.

He is doing the same thing in international cricket also. He is still really comfortable playing his role for LSG lower down the order. The tournament has become a little tougher and scoreboard pressure has become an option. In such a situation, you want an experienced international player like Nicholas who is already in your team to take the team forward.