Lucknow, Apr 12 (PTI) Gujarat Titans assistant coach Parthiv Patel says the Ekana stadium pitch slowed down considerably as the game progressed, but praised Lucknow Super Giants’ batter Nicholas Pooran for another breathtaking knock in IPL here Saturday.

LSG, capitalising on half-centuries by Aiden Markram (58) and the brilliant Pooran (61), defeated GT by six wickets, overhauling the 181-run target with three balls to spare.

This was after GT openers, Sai Sudharsan (56) and skipper Shubman Gill (60), gave their side a solid start with a 120-run partnership, but the middle-order could not adapt to the slow nature of the wicket, thus failing to score at a brisk pace.

“Nobody played bad shot and got out, it’s just that once the ball got old the pitch started to get slow. It was not easy to bat as the game progressed, it was getting difficult. LSG also had same problem. The pitch was not easy to bat on,” Patel said at the post-match press conference.

Patel was full of praise for Pooran, who has been in scintillating form this season and scored 61 off 34 balls with the help of one boundary and seven sixes.

“It is really difficult to plan against someone like Nicholas Pooran. We had our plans but the way he batted, if he gets going he is very difficult to stop,” he said.

Patel, however, preferred to look at the positives for his side despite the defeat.

“Opening partnership was outstanding, there is no doubt about it. Both Shubman and Sai Sudharsan have been phenomenal for us throughout the season. I thought Prasidh Krishna has been bowling well, Mohammed Siraj has been bowling well but today wasn’t his day,” the former India wicketkeeper said.

“Sai played well, have been playing well. It’s not easy to show consistency in this format. The way he is batting, the shots he is playing, you can see his conventional touch. He plays low risk cricket but keeps the strike rate high.

“What we need to improve upon is probably fielding. That’s something which can change the result of the game.” PTI SSC SSC AT AT