IPL 2020 / Pooran's acrobatic dive saves 6 for KXIP, Pietersen calls it 'T20's best save ever'

KXIP's Nicholas Pooran saved a shot by RR's Sanju Samson from going for a six at deep mid-wicket boundary. Pooran leapt full length over the rope to collect the ball. He caught the ball with his left hand and flicked it back into play a millisecond before falling. Commentator Kevin Pietersen called it the best save ever in T20 cricket.

Vikrant Shekhawat : Sep 28, 2020, 08:26 AM

Cricket Desk: Sharjah Stadium, in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL), is expected to break a lot of records it seems. A total of eight matches are set to be played in the season and in only two matches, the batsmen have plundered the hapless bowlers and on Sunday, it turned out to be a six-hitting fest. The Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) batsmen enjoyed batting in the middle on a flat pitch and short boundaries.

However, amidst all the heroics from the batters from the both teams, Nicholas Pooran pulled out an amazing efforts in the boundary in the second innings which left the commentators on air stunned. The incident happened in the 8th over of the innings when the Royals were going great guns with Steve Smith and Sanju Samson in the middle.

Save of the century pic.twitter.com/3G5eoDWDlv
— simon hughes (@theanalyst) September 27, 2020

Murugan Ashwin was delivering his first over and after scoring only two runs off his first couple of balls. In a bid to get to the asking run-rate, Samson rocked back on a short delivery and played a ferocious pull. The ball seemed set to go for a six. However, Nicholas Pooran, fielding at deep mid-wicket had other ideas.

Nicholas Pooran times his jump perfectly to save four runs

He saw the ball coming towards and leapt full length to attempt at an heroic catch. Surprisingly, he got the hold of the ball as well but his whole body was over the boundary line. This is where the West Indian cricketer showed the presence of mind to pull on an amazing effort ever on the cricket field.

All the momentum after jumping to catch the ball was taking him to the ground. But Nicholas Pooran, somehow, got rid of the ball before touching the ground. Looking at the effort, the commentators on-air, Kevin Pietersen and Michel Slater were left dumbstruck. While the former termed it the best fielding ever in the IPL, Slater went one step ahead and called it the best ever fielding effort he has ever seen.

Even Twitterati was in awe of Nicholas Pooran over his fielding and they lauded the left-hander for saving four runs for his team.