The Ajinkya Rahane captained Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) defeated the Rishabh Pant captained Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the IPL 2026 clash at Ekana Cricket Stadium on Monday, April 27. It was a Super Over victory for the team as both the KNG and the Super Giants had posted the same score of 155 in 20 overs each.
Batting first, KKR scored 155/7 in 20 overs. Rinku Singh played a lone hand, hitting an unbeaten 83 off 51 balls, with five sixes and seven boundaries. Cameron Green, too, contributed 34 runs off 21 balls. Mohsin Khan bowled a fine spell, claiming 5/23.
For the Super Giants, Mohammad Shami hit a last-ball six to help them reach 155/8. Captain Rishabh Pant, Aiden Markram and Ayush Badoni also scored 42 (38), 31 (27), and 24 (19), respectively. In response, Varun Chakaravarthy and Vaibhav Arora took two wickets for the Knights.
Later, Sunil Narine took two wickets to dismiss the KKR for LSG for only one run. After that, Rinku Singh hit a boundary off the first ball bowled by Prince Yadav to win the Super Over and the game.
The victory helped the Knight Riders climb up to eighth in the IPL 2026 points table. On the other hand, the Lucknow team was relegated to last.
Former players like Akash Chopra, Dale Steyn and more expressed their views on the Super Over. Take a look:
1. Dale Steyn
Dale Steyn, a former cricket player from South Africa, made a direct criticism of LSG’s bad choice to deploy Nicholas Pooran, who was under fire, in the Super Over. The former cricket player who is now a broadcaster noted that this season, the West Indies have scored 82 runs at a strike rate of 81.18 in eight games. In the post-match program, he informed JioStar (via Times Now):
“Three Super Overs for Nicholas Pooran in the IPL, three ducks. So, yes, absolutely. Would you send someone else? Of course. You’ve got players like Mitch Marsh, Rishabh Pant, and Mukul Choudhary. Given Pooran’s recent form, there were other options. He hasn’t scored more than 30 or 40 runs this season. I don’t know the exact numbers, but to send him in first ball in a Super Over to get you runs is almost a criminal decision.
“It could have gone either way, but at this stage of the season, when you’re desperate to win, you don’t send in a batter who hasn’t delivered all season. You go with players who’ve been striking the ball well, guys you trust to clear the ropes, or at least back to do the job. I don’t even think Nicholas Pooran believes he can do it right now; he’s in such a bad run of form,” he added.
2. Aakash Chopra
Former India opener Aakash Chopra expressed similar comments, criticising the LSG team management for sending Nicholas Pooran to face world-class spinner Sunil Narine in the Super Over. On his YouTube channel, the former cricket player turned analyst stated:
“Lucknow Super Giants, please tell me what you were thinking. We knew Sunil Narine would come. If Sunil Narine was going to come, who was the best player you had who could have hit the most sixes and sent spin into the stands, and who has form? Nicholas Pooran’s name doesn’t come in any of those things.
“They sent Nicholas Pooran and put him on strike as well. Nicholas Pooran has played three Super Overs in the IPL and has scored zero in all three. He hasn’t scored a single run. He got out for zero here as well,” he added.
3. Virender Sehwag
Additionally, former India opener Virender Sehwag believed that sending Nicholas Pooran in the Super Over was a mistake on the part of the LSG management. The World Cup winner stated that he would have given Ayush Badoni a promotion over Pooran while pleading with them to give him some rest. He stated to Cricbuzz:
“KKR should have won earlier itself, the way things were going. They should not have given away as many runs in the end, and they were lucky that it got tied. I would have sent Badoni if I were there (in the super over). I would never send Pooran as he is out of form, and I did not understand why they sent him. You should never send someone out of form.
“With Pooran’s form, the question now is whether they will play him in the XI in the next game. Sometimes, you think the player who has gotten more money, you think he must keep getting chances. If his worth had been lesser, he would have been an impact player or would have dropped by now. Remove him from the spotlight. Give him a rest for a game or two, and ask him to practice more in the nets,” he added.
4. Rohan Gavaskar
Nicholas Pooran was dismissed by former India player Rohan Gavaskar for his bad shot selection, which resulted in his first-ball wicket in the Super Over. As Sunil Narine bowled a tossed-up delivery, the wicketkeeper-batter was bowled out while attempting a slog sweep. According to Cricbuzz, the former cricket player turned analyst stated:
“In this kind of Super Over, you must play carefully. Everyone thinks you need to score more than 15, but on this pitch, 10-12 runs should have been the target. The shot Pooran played on the first ball, it was not needed. If you had even 10-12 runs, you would have had some chance. They did not bat responsibly in the Super Over.”
5. Sanjay Bangar
According to former Indian cricketer Sanjay Bangar, Risbabh Pant and Aiden Markram would have been a better left-right combination than Nicholas Pooran in the Super Over. The 53-year-old continued by saying that the Super Giants ought to have selected Markram and Ayush Badoni, two right-handers, at the pivotal moment. In the post-match program, he stated to ESPNcricinfo:
“I think there was a case for two right-handers to be used in the three batters that were used. And on the night, Rishabh Pant had scored 30-odd, which was quite useful on that particular surface, so in the first place, if they had to use a right-left combination. Rishabh Panta and Markram would have been the better of the two.
“Marsh, you can understand the reasoning behind that his game play against spin when the ball may grip a little bit and turn inside or go away from the right-hander as well. And at three, I would have then sort of used Ayush Badoni and make sure that you would at least get to a score of maybe seven or eight, having lost that first wicket if you had to lose your first wicket on the first ball. So, I wouldn’t have sent Nicholas Pooran there when Sunil Narine was bowling,” Bangar added.
Notably, last year, LSG paid ₹21 crore to keep Nicholas Pooran ahead of the 2026 auction. In 14 games, the 30-year-old scored 524 runs at a strike rate of 196.25, including five half-centuries in the 2025 Indian Premier League. That being said, this season, he has appeared to have no idea how to bat.
