"The entire CSK team have together hit 32 sixes" - Aakash Chopra lauds Nicholas Pooran's knock in LSG's IPL 2025 win vs GT

Former India player Aakash Chopra has lauded Nicholas Pooran for continuing his destructive run with the bat in the Lucknow Super Giants' (LSG) IPL 2025 win against the Gujarat Titans (GT). He noted that the left-handed batter has struck virtually as many sixes in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League as the entire Chennai Super Kings (CSK) team have hit.

GT set LSG a 181-run target in Match 26 of IPL 2025 in Lucknow on Saturday, April 12. Pooran smashed 61 runs off 34 deliveries in the chase as the home team achieved the target with six wickets and three deliveries to spare.

Reflecting on LSG's chase in a video shared on his YouTube channel 'Aakash Chopra', the former India opener praised Aiden Markram (58 off 31) for giving his team a flying start and Pooran for taking the GT attack to the cleaners.

"It seemed like 180 runs might be enough as Mitchell Marsh wasn't there. However, Mitchell Marsh not being there didn't make any difference. Aiden Markram is batting well. The first two or three matches didn't go well, and we were wondering whether he would be dropped. However, Markram played extremely well," Chopra said (17:50).

"Then came Nicholas Pooran. How well he is batting. He has already hit 31 sixes in six matches, and the entire CSK team have together hit 32 sixes. He hit 36 sixes in total last year, and this year, he has already hit 31. It seems like he is not thinking about where to hit sixes but how far he should hit," he added.

Nicholas Pooran hit a solitary four and seven sixes during his 61-run knock. Ayush Badoni (28* off 20) took LSG over the line after the current Orange Cap holder was dismissed.

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"Sai Sudharsan and Shubman Gill were batting like a dream" - Aakash Chopra lauds GT openers' partnership in IPL 2025 loss vs LSG

Sai Sudharsan (right) and Shubman Gill stitched together a 120-run opening partnership in GT's IPL 2025 clash vs LSG. [P/C: Getty]

Reflecting on the Gujarat Titans' batting in their IPL 2025 clash against the Lucknow Super Giants, Aakash Chopra praised Sai Sudharsan (56 off 37) and Shubman Gill (60 off 38) for laying the platform for a formidable total. However, he noted that the duo's dismissals in back-to-back overs changed the course of the game.

"The special thing about Gujarat is 120 runs in 12 overs, and that's their story. That was the game. Sai Sudharsan and Shubman Gill were batting like a dream. Both were batting extremely well, but they got out one after the other, and the game changed, and it was never the same again," he said in the same video.

The cricketer-turned-commentator added that the slight weakness in the GT middle order came to the fore.

"If you had reached 120 runs in 12 overs, 210-220 runs should have been scored. However, only 180 were scored. Only 60 runs were scored in the next eight overs, and you lost six wickets. Sherfane Rutherford once again couldn't do the job properly. The slight weakness there got exposed a little," Chopra elaborated.

Sherfane Rutherford consumed 19 deliveries for his 22 runs in GT's IPL 2025 clash against LSG. Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan were the only GT players to score more than 25 runs in Saturday's afternoon game.