Lucknow Super Giants head coach Justin Langer defended the decision to send an out-of-form Nicholas Pooran to face the Super Over, following their fifth straight defeat in IPL 2026.

Pooran walked out to face Sunil Narine with a historically skewed record in Super Overs: he had managed just 1 run in 9 balls across four separate instances. Against the Kolkata Knight Riders on Sunday (April 26), he was dismissed off the first delivery, slogging at a ball that turned sharply and splattered his stumps.

Speaking at the press conference, Langer said they felt Pooran was the best option to take on his long-time West Indies teammate. Pooran had been dismissed earlier in the game by Varun Chakaravarthy for 9(12).

"We knew that Sunil Narine was the bowler, and if you look at Nicky's (Pooran's) record, he's seen Narine more than anyone in world cricket," Langer said. "So, we felt he was still the best, I know he hasn't hit his form yet, and Nicky will be the first, but we thought if anyone can handle a Super Over, it's Nicky Pooran. And you back your best players, right? That's what you do".

"So, he has struggled, but if you look at all the numbers, no one plays Narine, the world class off spinner, better than Nicky, but it didn't come off unfortunately".

Narine's Super Over record stands at an impressive six wickets from 4.2 overs. Before the game, Pooran had struck Narine at 131.08 in all T20s, averaging 49, and had been dismissed four times in 148 balls. Pooran had also once infamously played out four dots, and was out off the fifth, in a Super Over against Narine in the CPL 12 years ago.

Since then, Pooran has become one of the finest T20 players, striking at 196.25 in the IPL last year. This year, that number has dropped to 81.18.

When asked if Pooran is facing mental pressure, given how challenging the season has been for him, Langer admitted that he is low on confidence, and working hard to get back.

"He's working on it, and it's amazing that even big players like him, there's probably no greater T20 player currently in the world over the last few years, it just goes to show he's human, and you can't fake confidence," Langer said.

"We all try to, you can look like [you are] confident, but confidence comes from getting your processes right, and we're working every day with him, and he is working very hard to get it back. Sometimes this is a tough game of cricket, my gosh, it's a tough game".

Langer conceded that his team did not adjust to the black-soil wicket, which played quite differently to the red-soil surface in the last game. He had called the last pitch "exciting", likening the pace and bounce to the WACA (Perth) pitch.