IPL 2026: Mukul Choudhary’s onslaught stuns KKR as LSG seal last-ball win

KOLKATA: Not many had heard about 21-year-old Mukul Choudhary in the cricketing circuit before Thursday. The wicketkeeper-batter from Rajasthan became the new hero of this IPL season as he smacked seven sixes, the same number hit by Kolkata Knight Riders in their whole innings earlier, and two fours to script an incredible three-wicket win for Lucknow Super Giants against KKR at the Eden Gardens here on Thursday.

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Choudhary single-handedly turned the match on its head, bringing the Super Giants back from the dead in the game and staying undefeated on 54 off just 27 balls.

Needing 30 runs in the last two overs, Choudhary hit Cameron Green, bowling for the first time this season, for 16 runs. He completed the victory with a 14-run last over from ‘impact sub’ Vaibhav Arora.

Chasing 182 to win, LSG made the right start with Aiden Markram and Mitchell Marsh providing a flying start. But Arora brought the hosts back in the match by picking up both the batters in his second over as LSG reached 56/2 in the Powerplay. Nicholas Pooran’s poor run with the bat continued as the West Indies cricketer departed for 13, while LSG lost Abdul Samad in the very next over.

LSG impact sub Ayush Badoni stood tall, playing some good shots to get to 50 off 33 balls. But once the youngster was caught by Rinku Singh off Anukul Roy, LSG lost the momentum till Choudhary decided to take things in his own hands. Sunil Narine, back after missing the last game, kept the LSG batters quiet, giving away 13 runs in his four overs and picking up one wicket, his 200th in T20s.

Earlier, KKR too struggled to get going. Rahane and Angkrish Raghuvanshi steadied the ship after they lost opener Finn Allen early. Spinner Digvesh Rathi, returning for his second spell, broke the 84-run second-wicket stand between the two, getting Rahane (41) to pull a short one to midwicket, where Shami stood ready to scoop up the catch.

Raghuvanshi departed in the very next over, lofting Siddharth to long-on only to be caught by Aiden Markram for 45. Rinku Singh could not utilise the opportunity as he had his stumps dislodged while trying to steer pacer Avesh Khan to third man. KKR’s overseas duo of Green and Rovman Powell struggled to get going.

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Forget hitting the big boundaries, they could not even get the singles and twos, bringing down the run-rate drastically in the middle overs.

The Knights, who reached 100 in 10.4 overs, had only got to 115 five overs later. Powell tried to take on the attack as he stepped down the track to lift Manimaran Siddharth over long-on for a six, a much-needed boundary coming after 5.1 overs.