Even in 2025, not many would have dared to turn down an obvious single like Lucknow Super Giants No. 3 Nicholas Pooran did to smear the ball out of the park off a positive ‘match-up’. Thursday’s consolatory win over the Gujarat Titans wouldn’t have meant as much for the team’s data analysts as Pooran’s downright T20 outlook did. More context: Batting first on an Ahmedabad flatbed, Mitch Marsh had progressively built up to 89 within the 15th over when a well-set Pooran refused a run after drilling out a block-hole delivery from left-armer Sai Kishore to long-off. Lining up for the favoured angle of the tweaker, southpaw Pooran smoked the next delivery for six, evoking the first significant steps of a true-blue batting leap under the IPL spotlight. A revolution is on. Debates over T20’s ‘non-boundary’ runs are gathering pace. Is the single (strike-rotation) worth it when all those invested are busy breaking their heads in coupling the brains and brawn to score faster every year? Story continues below this ad Top-order (1-3) batting overall …