“I told myself, ‘you are going to bat like Nicky P’”- 137 runs | 55 balls | 10 fours | 13 sixes
By Vineet Anantharaman
Think of all the finals you’ve seen. Don’t just stick to cricket, go across sports. Think of all the all the great performances you’ve seen on the big stage. Again, across sports. You’ve probably seen the greatest of all time tonight. You know it’s not an overstatement. A captain, team under pressure, walking out to bat after the team loses a wicket in the first over, and he single-handedly chases down 184 with four overs to spare.
On a historic night for American cricket, and for the MI Family, winning their ninth title (five IPLs, two Champions League T20s, a WPL and now an MLC), Nicholas Pooran was the star. When he gets into the mood, there’s no point trying. Like tonight. Just accept. This is Nicky P’s world, and we are just there to watch him in awe.
Here we go then. Let’s relive the 55-ball bolt-from-another-planet, shall we?
He walked in with MI New York in sticky water. Steven Taylor had been dismissed off the third ball in the first over. The target was rather whopping: 184 in a big final is good enough pressure. Imad Wasim was bowling. And Pooran, first ball, met him with solid respect, defending it off his front foot. That was all the getting-in-your-eye he needed, for come ball two, he was immediately down on a knee to slog it for a maximum over deep mid-wicket, and followed it up staying tall an tonking the next over long-off. The bugle was sounded. The timing was sublime. The intent was right there. He wasn’t going to hang around.
The damning moment for the Seattle Orcas came in the third over. Poor Dwaine Pretorius was at the receiving end. 6, 6, 4, 6, 4, wide, 1 run. 28 runs were milked. None of these were mindless slogs. Each strike was cleaner than the previous, longer than the previous, more innovative than the previous. And then the juggernaut just didn’t stop. His fifty came off 16 balls in the fourth over, off another six of course.
Andrew Tye came in to bowl the final over of the powerplay. He snuck in three dots through the over too. The other three balls, you ask? Yep, sixes, each of them. 80 runs came in the powerplay. 100 came up in the eighth over, with the equation coming down to nearly a-run-a-ball. He found a good partner in Dewald Brevis, who was happy to play second fiddle from the other end, letting Nicky have all the limelight he needed.
Wayne Parnell, Seattle’s skipper, tried everything, pace, spin, pacers taking pace off, spinners bowling them quick. Nothing stayed on the ground. Everything was duly sent into orbit. Off over number 11.3, in just 40 balls, on the big night of the final, came the century, courtesy a pretty polite slice to deep point. Off went the helmet. Out went the arms. Smiles. Applause. Cheers. Everybody out there knew they’d witnessed something special.
The next target was Harmeet Singh and his left-arm spinners. In the 15th over, with the target well within sight, Pooran went, 4, 6, 6, 6 off consecutive deliveries. In a chanceless innings where everything came off the middle of the middle of his bat, it’s only fair that something found an edge. The winning shot did: Cameron Gannon bowled a pretty good yorker, something Nicky jammed his bat down to, and the ball found the inside-edge to roll away into the boundary.
137 runs | 55 balls | 10 fours | 13 sixes. The maiden MLC 2023 trophy in the bag. “I told myself, ‘you are going to bat like Nicky P,’” he said in the post-match interview soon after. Masterclass done right.
LATEST
“It’s a tough pill to swallow”
It’s never easy knowing 266 wasn’t enough on the day. A record 29 sixes were hit by MI New York – the most ever in a T20 innings. On nights like these when lightning strikes twice, you don’t fight the powers. You just accept it wasn’t out night.“It’s a tough pill to swallow,” said Mark Boucher at the post-match press conference. “I think this ground is very small. In the beginning stages of the tournament, the wickets weren’t as good as they are now. It made bowling extremely tough. The dew factor at the backend of the game made bowling extremely tough for the bowlers and the fielders. But in saying that, we had our chances. If we had taken those chances, we could have built a bit of pressure. We knew when we scored our total, on a pitch that is good and small boundaries, if there was one team that could chase this down, it was these guys.”MI New York’s MLC 2026 campaign might have come to an end, but it was eventful and certainly memorable. We gained momentum and peaked at the right time, with all parts of the puzzle seemingly falling in place. “The one area where we’ve struggled throughout the tournament has been our batting. We haven’t got any flow in our batting in the tournament. Coming into the game today, even though we lost the last game, I thought there was something going there. Nicky’s (Pooran) knock was fantastic. Quinny (de Kock) got us off to a good start as well. Polly coming in. We put on a really good score and our batters did really well. In the middle stages of the tournament, our bowlers really kept us in the tournament,” he said. Whether it was Kieron Pollard pulling out matches from the dead, something he’s done for the Blue and Gold for over 17 years now, or whether it was Tajinder Dhillon’s cameos, or Rushil Ugarkar’s large-hearted bowling, Quinton de Kock’s typically Quinny-like starts, or a record-breaking final flourish, there certainly has been enough for us to celebrate. Let’s give it some time. When the disappointment withers, what will remain is pride, the pride we have in this side. This is MI city, this is MI team, we are MI New York. 17 Jul, 2026Celebrating a 106(33), that is enough on most days…
…Sadly, this wasn’t one of those. But when the dust settles and the disappointment of seeing a massive total being overhauled dies down, we’ll the pride in this MONSTER NICHOLAS POORAN knock. He loves these knockout games in the MLC, doesn’t he! Against the Washington Freedom in the Eliminator, he wasted no time settling in. The first ball was a single. Ball 2: SIXBall 3: SIXBall 4: SIXBall 5: FOURThis was followed by another 6, 4, 0, 6, 6, 6 to bring up his fifty off just 14 balls. None of them were mishits in any sense. Reading the bowling to perfection, he was happy to step out and go over long-off, pull away the short stuff, tonk them down the ground, cut them through point. Just peak, beast mode. He wasn’t backing down. Against Nikhil Chaudhary’s off-spin, he kept the fifth gear going. 6, 4, 1, 0, 4, 6, 4, 6 across two overs, and he had the fastest MLC century, off just 31 balls. He fell immediately after. All this inside the 12th over. Sheer madness was on display. Again, it might get forgotten given what happened in the second innings and how Washington chased down a mammoth total, but it was a knock for the ages nevertheless. Nicky P has added another feather that sits alongside his iconic 137* from 2023!16 Jul, 2026The Eliminator report: Crazy game, but ends in heartbreak :(
266 runs chased down. 51 sixes hit in the game. It’s probably a once in a lifetime moment, and the partnership of 241 runs in just 89 balls between Steven Smith and Andries Gous was again one of those, seen now, might never be seen again moments. Alas, it came against us in the Eliminator. A crazy game, but on the wrong side of the result.. Nicholas Pooran: 106 (33)“It wasn’t meant to be,” our skipper said at the post-match presentation. But his knock deserves all the appreciation. Five fours, 13 sixes, and a century off just 31 balls. It was peak Nicky P. Beast Nicky P. He was just unstoppable, smashing everything around for fun. Imagine a 24-ball 51 by Quinton de Kock felt like second fiddle! And then Polly goes wild!Pooran came, smashed, and was done by the 12th over. Kieron Pollard took it upon himself to carry the baton forward. With a 25-ball 64, he kept the shots coming, the sixes flowing, and ensured MINY finished strong. The final 266/9 came via Trent Boult and his 10-ball 22. That Smith-Gous stand On most days, a target of 267 is daunting enough. But lightning struck twice, first in the form of Pooran’s brilliant century, and then with Gous’ 51-ball 132 and Smith’s 48-ball 110. They rode their luck, but it just felt written in the stars. Ruing the missed chances 9.4: Smith gets a life 10.1: Smith gets put down again 10.6: Now Gous is dropped11.5: Both the bowler and the keeper miss a run-out chance In 13 balls, with four chances gone down, the signs were clear. It simply wasn’t our day. The batters then switched gears and went on a rampage, with 29 runs coming off the 13th over, 21 off the 14th and 31 off the 15th, virtually killing the game. This is where it ends. 2026 wasn’t to be. It’s a tough one to swallow. But once the dust settles, we’ll look back at how heartwarming this season has been with new heroes stepping up, older ones turning back the clock, and wins pulled off from nowhere. 15 Jul, 2026
