LSG have turned their premium retention at 21 crore into a shrewd call by making him the unconditional No.3 ©BCCI/IPL
Nicholas Pooran's T20 batting is all about space, positioning, muscle memory, and a mean bat swing. This season, he's averaging five sixes a game while leading the charts in run aggregate. He's also one of only two batters among the top 15 scorers to have hit more sixes (31) than fours (25). The prospect of him tonking sixes - pleasing or distressing, depending on which side of the fence you're on - is built on years of perfecting the most high-risk craft in the game.
"I've talked to him [Pooran] about needing the right space," Julian Wood, a renowned power-hitting coach, tells Cricbuzz. "If you have too much space, you lose control. Too little, and you feel restricted. But once you get that spacing right, the bat just flows through the ball. His bat swing is so pure. The timing of his snaps with the ball is perfect. And his spacing is great," Wood explains.
Wood's stint as a batting consultant with Punjab Kings began in the 2022 season, soon after Pooran moved on from the franchise, but the two have often spoken about batting and their shared passion for power hitting. At 5'6", Pooran might appear physically compact for the kind of six-hitting menace he's become, but the power and precision, Wood reckons, come from rhythm and the timing of his movements.
"I surprise myself sometimes," Pooran said after his 34-ball 61 helped
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