Nicholas Pooran scripts history, breaks Rizwan's T20 record

Nicholas Pooran (Pic: File Pic)

West Indies swashbuckling batsman Nicholas Pooran scripted history by breaking Pakistan's Mohammed Rizwan's record for the most runs in the T20s in a calendar year.

He attained this historic feat during the Caribbean Premier League while representing Trinbago Knight Riders.

In the match against Barbados Royals, Nicholas Pooran played a knock of 27 runs off 15 deliveries which included 4 fours and 1 six. He played with a strike rate of 180.00. Along with him, skipper Kieron Pollard scored 42, followed by Keacy (32), and Andre Russell (31) which helped the team reach a score of 175 runs for the loss of seven wickets.

In the run chase, the Barbados Royals failed to reach the target as they lost nine wickets for 145 runs. Alick Athanaze was the top-scorer for the side as he scored 44 runs, followed by David Miller with 30 runs.

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Nicholas Pooran is the leading run-scorer in T20s for this year. Featuring 66 matches, he scored 2,059 runs with an average of 42.02. He has a strike rate of 160.85 and his best score is of 98 runs. Pooran also has 14 half-centuries this year. He has smacked 139 fours and 152 sixes this year.

In CPL 2024, Pooran has scored 312 runs in nine innings at an average of 39.00, with a strike rate of 175.28 and best score of 97. He has two half-centuries in the competition and is the fourth-highest run-getter.

Mohammed Rizwan's record was scoring 2,036 runs in 48 T20s back in 2021 at an average of 56.60 and a strike rate of over 132, with a century and 18 fifties. His best score was 104'.

Pooran has displayed some incredible batting form in major T20 leagues and competition this year. Some of his notable performances came in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, in which he scored 499 runs at an average of 62.37, with three fifties and a strike rate of 178.21, with his best score being 75. He finished as the eighth-highest run-getter.

In the T20 World Cup held in the USA and West Indies, Nicholas Pooran was the sixth-highest run-maker with 228 runs in seven innings at an average of 38.00, with a fifty and best score of 98.

In the International League T20 season this year in UAE, Pooran led the MI Emirates to the title with a brilliant campaign of 709 runs in 20 matches at an average of 50.64, with four fifties and a strike rate of 155.14. He was the third-highest run-getter in the tournament.

Along with that, he put in fine performances in SA20 2024 in South Africa (86 runs in three matches with a fifty), Major League Cricket (MLC) in USA (180 runs in seven matches with a fifty, average of 30.00, strike rate of 125.00), The Hundred in UK (227 runs in seven innings at an average of 45.40, with a strike rate of 150.33, with three fifties, fourth-highest run-getter).

In 13 T20Is for West Indies, he has scored 384 runs at an average of 34.90, with a strike rate of over 157, two half-centuries and best score of 98.

Earlier in CPL 2024, Pooran went past legendary Chris Gayle's world record of 135 sixes in T20 cricket during a calendar year and cracked the 150-sixes mark recently, becoming the first player to do so.

Nicholas Pooran's distant rivals this year in run-scoring are South Africa's Reeza Hendricks (1,555 runs in 59 matches at an average of 31.10, with 14 fifties and a strike rate of over 128), Pakistan's Babar Azam (1,480 runs in 36 matches at an average of 46.25, with a century, 13 fifties and strike rate of 132.73) and Travis Head (1,442 runs in 39 matches at an average of 41.20, with a century and 13 fifties, with a strike rate of 182.07).

(With ANI Inputs)