Match fixing or team strategy: Why didn’t Nicholas Pooran stumped Max Holden in ILT20?

Nicholas Pooran had all the time in the world to stump out Max Holden but didn’t.

Former West Indian star Nicholas Pooran has found himself in the middle of controversy in the ILT20. The incident happened during the game between MI Emirates (MIE) and Desert Vipers (DV) that was played at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, December 9.

In the 16th over of the innings when Rashid Khan bowling to Max Holden, who was batting on 42 runs, the batter came down the track and missed the line of the ball. Pooran collected the ball cleanly and had all the time to stump him out but, he opted not to effect an easy stumping, leaving many fans puzzled.

Max Holden, eventually retired himself having taken 37 balls to score his 42 runs with the help of three boundaries. One of the reasons behind Pooran’s reluctance to stump-out the batter would have been due to Holden’s struggles with the bat. Many fans were aghast with the move and questioned Pooran’s actions on social media.

Here’s the video:

Desert Vipers post challenging total on the board

Coming to the match, captain Kieron Pollard won the toss and chose to bowl first for MI Emirates in their key clash against Desert Vipers on Tuesday. Pollard’s side had started the season with a loss against Gulf Giants before beating Sharjah Warriorz in their second outing. Desert Vipers, on the other hand had come into the game on the back of three successive wins in their first three games.

Pakistan batter Fakhar Zaman added 39 runs for the first wicket with Andries Gous, who got retired hurt for 21. Allah Ghazanfar got the key wicket of Zaman caught by Tom Banton for 35 runs which came off just 31 balls. Ghazanfar was the best bowler for MI Emirates with 2/32 from his four overs. Desert Vipers ended their innings on 159 for the loss of four wickets from their 20 overs.

MI Emirates loses clash by just one run against Desert Vipers

Chasing 159 to win, MI Emirates lost veteran English star Jonny Bairstow for just eight runs. Muhammad Waseem and Tom Banton then added 42 runs for the second wicket in 31 balls before Waseem was dismissed for 24 runs. Pooran, then joined Banton as the continued to pile on the pressure with 42-run stand for the third wicket.

Sam Curran ended that stand when he had Pooran caught by Shimron Hetmyer for 31 runs. Tom Banton was out in the next over for 34 when he was caught by Hasan Nawaz off David Payne’ bowling.

Tajinder Dhillon came out to bat with MI Emirates needing 58 runs to win off 31 balls and hit his first ball for four runs. Dhillon, then hit Sam Curran for two sixes in the 16th over, to bring the equation to 34 runs from the last four overs. Kieron Pollard then used the long handle to hit Noor Ahmed for a six and followed it up with yet another boundary.

Lockie Ferguson, bowling the 18th over began with a wide ball before he was hit for a boundary by Dhillon. The veteran seamer held his nerves to get the key wicket of Dhillon for 17 runs caught by Sam Curran. Needing 16 runs from 12 balls, MI Emirates committed hara-kiri in the 19th over bowled by David Payne.

English seamer first got rid of Romario Shepherd for a single run in the first ball of the over. In the fourth ball of the same over, Payne got the big wicket of Pollard for 23 runs which came off 13 balls and also dismissed Chris Woakes for a duck to end with figures of 4/29 from his four overs.

Needing 16 off the final six balls of the game, Rashid Khan hit Khuzaima Tanveer for a six and a four to make it two runs from one ball. Allah Ghazanfar got run-out in the final ball as he tried to sneak in a single to force a super-over to leave MI Emirates short of the target by one run.

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